Fallout
by artemis-golden-arrow
Summary: AU from the end of 3x15, how I'd like to see the rest of season 3 go, even though I know it won't. Bonnie-centric, Kennett, with one-sided Bamon.
1. Prologue  The Morning After

**A/N: I'm going to be breaking my own rule about not posting something that isn't finished, because this story is just kicking me to be written. I can't guarantee any sort of posting schedule, but I'll do my best to hurry on it.**

**This is post-3x15, trying to keep the characters canon and in character, though it's probably a lot of wishful thinking, as I know the show won't ever give them the depth I wish to see in them.**

**Pairings: Kennett, one-sided Bamon, with a lot of friendships thrown in for good measure.**

.

.

.

**PROLOGUE - The Morning After**

Stefan Salvatore stepped onto Caroline Forbes' front porch and walked up to the door and stopped, swallowing hard before knocking. He shifted from foot to foot, nervous about the outcome. He knew this wasn't going to be easy, and there was a strong possibility that she wouldn't even see him, and if she did, that she'd turn his brain to jelly the moment he opened his mouth, but he had to take that chance.

He had to apologize, to explain things to her. He knew inside that she wouldn't agree with the necessity of his and Damon's actions the previous night, but she would _understand_ them. Elena was her best friend. He knew without asking that she'd sacrifice her own life to save Elena's; he'd seen that loyalty and dedication on more than one occasion. But he and Damon hadn't asked, and they certainly hadn't given Abby a choice in the matter, either. They'd played God, done what they'd felt had to be done in the moment, but that moment was going to bring them far more pain than pleasure in the long run, and unlike his brother, Stefan wasn't able to bury his guilt under a pile of other emotions. Stefan had always been strongly motivated by guilt.

The door opened, and Stefan looked up at Caroline. Before he could even ask to speak with Bonnie, or if she'd see him, the blonde-haired vampire gave him his answer.

"Go home, Stefan," she said. Her words were soft, perhaps a bit sympathetic because she knew why he was there, perhaps because she saw his courage in facing and accepting his part in hurting her friend, perhaps even in warning him that it was safer for him to go home, but he caught their underlying meaning. _Bonnie's still upset and doesn't want to speak to you or see you_.

"Please," he said. Caroline stood resolutely in the doorway, an undead statue dedicated to protecting her friend. He knew from her stance there was no changing Caroline's or Bonnie's minds. "Would you tell her I was here, and that I deeply regret the events of last night."

"I will," Caroline promised with a half-smile. She backed away and closed the door, leaving Stefan standing there, feeling even more guilty than he had the night before.

_BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB_

Elena knocked at the front door of the Salvatore Boarding House. It was early, but she knew the brothers were probably awake. Her heart pounded furiously, and she looked around nervously. She knew she had to speak the words she was here to say, but that didn't mean she was really ready to say them. But after the events of the night before, she hadn't been able to sleep, hadn't been able to think about anything else, so here she was.

The door opened.

"Elena?"

Elena turned and looked up into Stefan's clear green eyes, eyes that she loved dearly, just as she loved the man they belonged to. But that man was lost to her, lost to himself, and until he resurfaced, there was no point in dwelling on the past.

"I need to speak with you and Damon," she told him, steeling her nerves. Stefan stepped aside. With a deep breath, Elena strode past him, and Stefan closed the door behind her.

"What a surprise," Damon said from the sofa. What wasn't a surprise was the glass of liquor in his hand; he had a tendency to self-medicate even in the best of situations, and things were definitely not good. He didn't wear his emotions on his sleeve, and he did his best to hide any guilty feelings behind snark and liquor. He was feeling particularly snarky, and particularly liquored up, for such an early hour.

Elena stopped next to the fireplace, and Stefan followed her into the room. She gave Damon a glare, but it had no effect on him, as usual, and she sighed. This was definitely for the best. Nevertheless, now that she was standing here with the brothers, the words were sticking in her throat.

"You have something on your mind?" Stefan led; he recognized that Elena had something to say, something that he was certain not to enjoy.

_Well, here goes nothing._

"I want to thank you both for saving my life last night," Elena said.

"But?" Damon took a large swig of his drink. He could hear the word just hanging in the silence after the girl had stopped speaking.

"But you crossed a line," Elena continued, finding the words coming easier now that she'd begun speaking. "A line that should _never _have been crossed."

"Your life was in danger," Damon pointed out. "So we did what we had to do."

"There was another way," Elena told him. "You should have gotten in touch with Bonnie as soon as Elijah contacted you."

"That was suggested by Saint Stefan," Damon answered, glancing over at his brother, who looked away. "But we had a plan B."

"And plan B didn't work," Elena reminded him. "Plan A should have been giving Bonnie a chance to come up with an alternative while you tried plan B. Then maybe things wouldn't have come to that point." She glared over at Stefan, who wouldn't meet her eyes, before turning her furious gaze on Damon. "You know how important choice is, but you never gave Bonnie or her mom a choice in any of it."

"We did what had to be done," Damon repeated, stubbornly clinging to his mantra. If he repeated it often enough, he might actually start to believe it.

"No," Elena answered. "What had to be done was letting Bonnie and her mom help Esther kill the Originals. What had to be done was what was best for the greater good. What you did was save my life, and I don't mean to sound unappreciative, but I had things managed with Rebekah. She couldn't get to me. If you hadn't put my life above someone else's life, then the Originals would be dead, and everything would be all right."

Her voice caught as she remembered Caroline's words to her the night before. The Salvatores' choice had brought suffering to her best friend, because of her. They'd chosen her life over the life of her friend's mother, and now Bonnie was avoiding her. Elena couldn't blame her, but she wished things hadn't come to this. She knew her next words wouldn't make things better between her and Bonnie, but maybe they'd be a step in the right direction.

"We couldn't take that chance," Damon said, standing up and walking over to her. "You are more important than anything."

"But I shouldn't be," Elena argued. She took a step back and bumped into the edge of the fireplace. She said the next words quickly, afraid she wouldn't get them out. "I need to take some time away from you two, to evaluate my life."

The words landed as a slap to Damon; Stefan, on the other hand, stared down at the floor. He'd been expecting them from the moment they'd made the decision to turn Abby, and especially after Elena had shown up at the door with something heavy weighing on her mind.

"Evaluate your life?" Damon asked, his brow furrowing. "What the hell does that mean?" He took a deep swig of his whiskey.

"Damon," Stefan said, stepping forward. Damon met his eyes and he shook his head. With a growl, Damon stepped away.

"We'll give you all the space you need," Stefan, finally meeting Elena's eyes, promised her.

She nodded at him. They had taken the news better than she expected. She stepped around him and headed for the door. She had it open, but before she could exit, Damon was behind her. He caught her arm, and she turned around to face him.

"I love you," he told her, a fierce expression on his face. "You can't just walk out on us this way, not after everything we've done for you."

"Damon," Stefan said, coming up behind his brother and touching his arm. He knew this wasn't going to be pretty. Once Elena made up her mind about something, there was little that could be said to dissuade her.

"Done for me?" she asked, anger kindling at Damon's words. "Don't you mean, done for _you_?"

"That's-"

"And you don't love _me_, Damon," she continued. "You love Katherine. You loved her for 145 years, and you've known me for a little over a year. You're just transferring your feelings for her onto me because I look like her."

"That's not true," Damon told her, denial in his heart. He _didn't_ love Katherine. He hated her. But Elena...

"You don't know what love is," Elena added. "Love _isn't_ selfish, and that's all you are, Damon. That's all you've ever been. And until you accept that and learn to move past it, that's all you'll ever be."

She might as well have slapped him. Damon, looking stunned, took a step back. Elena gave him a furious look, turned around, and headed out into the sunlight. Neither Salvatore followed her.


	2. Two Weeks Later

**CHAPTER ONE**

Kol Mikaelson stormed through the front door of the Mikaelson mansion, not because he was angry, but because he liked to make a splash, and startling his unsuspecting siblings was always high on his list of priorities. They hadn't seen him in two weeks, since Esther's ceremony to kill them all had failed, and they certainly weren't expecting him any time soon. He hadn't expected to be back here in this one-horse town again either, but circumstances being as they were, everything always seemed to lead back to Mystic Falls.

Klaus was sitting in the living room, staring at his sketch pad blankly, as though his muse had abandoned him, and possibly she had. Rebekah had her feet propped up on the sofa as she read a magazine, something with a fancily dressed girl on the cover. Even with their extraordinary hearing abilities, neither had been anticipating the return of one of their other siblings, and thus, when Kol slammed the door shut on his arrival, both jumped.

Kol, taking in their brief startled glances at him over the items in their hands, knew he'd succeeded, and, with a smirk twisting his handsome features, he strode over to the sofa opposite his sister and threw himself onto it, waiting for one of them to speak.

It didn't take long.

"I thought you'd run away like the little coward you are," Rebekah said, raising an eyebrow at him over the top of her magazine before returning her attention to the article she'd been reading. Clearly, she found whatever she was gazing at in the magazine to be more engrossing than her brother's response.

"Of course not," Kol answered, some of his smugness fading at her words._ Run away? Coward?_ He wasn't craven. "I thought I knew where Mother and Finn may have fled, but I was wrong."

"And so you come home with your tail between your legs?"

That was twice she'd put him down, and he'd only been home for a minute. His temper flared. "The only thing between-"

"Play nice, children," Klaus, playing peacekeeper, interrupted, earning him dirty looks from both of his younger siblings, but he shrugged it off. Dirty looks were the least of his worries when it came to Kol and Rebekah. At least when they were glaring at him, they weren't arguing over nothing, which was their normal state of interacting. Sometimes it was amusing, but most of the time, it was just annoying.

"I'm thirsty," Kol said, changing the subject, much to his brother's relief. "Is there anything to drink?"

"Fresh out," Klaus answered, pointing towards the front door with his right hand, accidentally streaking his paper with the pencil as he waved for his brother to show himself out. "But I'm sure you know where to find more."

Kol knew how to take a hint. His smirk had abandoned him now that he was actually back amongst his family, and he was relieved at the idea of going out of the house to find his favorite beverage. He stood up, giving his sister a solid glare as he spoke. "I'll be back later."

"Thanks for the warning," Rebekah said, not glancing up from her magazine. From his chair, Klaus snickered softly, though to Kol's hearing it was almost as if he'd screamed.

Kol scowled. He wasn't sure how just yet, but he'd pay her back for that comment. He turned and headed for the door, determined to put as much distance as he could between himself and his siblings.

_BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB_

Bonnie Bennett smiled at her best friend, Caroline Forbes, as the blonde girl slid out of the booth.

"Are you sure you don't want me to wait for you?" Caroline asked, concern for her friend evident in her words.

It had only been two weeks since Damon and Stefan Salvatore had teamed up to save the girls' other best friend from the Originals, but the cost had been the life of Bonnie's mother. Even though Abby had been absent from Bonnie's life for the better part of the past fifteen years, she and Bonnie had started to reconnect through the magic they'd been using to aid the Original Witch in killing the Originals. But then Damon Salvatore had force fed Abby his blood before snapping her neck in order to save Elena, all while Bonnie was just a few rooms away, being kept from helping Abby by Stefan. The betrayal, perpetrated by two people she'd trusted, had hit her hard, turning Caroline into an overprotective mother hen, but Bonnie loved her for it.

"Yeah," Bonnie answered, smiling up at her friend. "I just need a little bit of time to myself before I head over to Grams'."

"Okay," Caroline said. "Well, I'll stop by and Abby out, make sure everything goes all right, and we'll be back by the time you get there."

Bonnie nodded her thanks, and Caroline straightened and headed out of the Grill. Although the place was fairly well packed, she still felt alone. She glanced around the room while she picked at the last of her fries. Matt Donovan was bussing tables in the other section, while Caroline's mother, Sheriff Liz Forbes, sat at a booth with Carol Lockwood and another person Bonnie thought was likely on the Founder's Council with both women. She knew they were probably strategizing, trying to figure out who was going around killing Council members. Her friend Alaric Saltzman had a pair of near misses with the serial killer, but he was recovering at the hospital.

Bonnie sighed. She knew she was just delaying the inevitable, but she really didn't want to go back to the house just yet. Abby had been staying at Sheila Bennett's former home since Damon had turned her, because Bonnie couldn't take Abby home with her. Abby had chosen to turn, because she hadn't been ready to give up on rebuilding her relationship with Bonnie, but it had been a painful decision, and despite successfully completing the transition, Bonnie could tell it still haunted her mother, who considered herself to now be an abomination of nature, as opposed to a servant of it.

Bonnie understood where her mother was coming from. Even if she hadn't been a witch, she'd have a hard time willingly becoming the literal walking dead, but instinctively, witches simply didn't choose to transition. They'd choose death. That Abby had chosen to become the thing she hated most to stay in Bonnie's life meant the world to Bonnie, but it also made her feel incredibly guilty. While she hadn't been the one to turn Abby, it had still been her fault that Abby had been in Mystic Falls and available for Damon to turn.

Bonnie still burned with anger when she thought about the Salvatores. Even though Stefan had changed the past few months, she'd still considered him her friend. And Damon? Despite everything, she'd begun to trust him. Hell, he'd kept her in the loop on the dinner he and Stefan had attended with Klaus and Elijah, and she'd kept him in the loop on the progress she and Abby had made opening Esther's coffin. She'd started to think that, maybe, she'd meant just a little something to the Salvatores.

She'd thought wrong.

After Stefan had released Bonnie that night, after he and Damon had fled the wrath of the dead witches, she'd found Abby, her mother's neck snapped, in one of the upstairs rooms. And since Stefan had been downstairs distracting Bonnie, she knew Damon had been responsible for Abby. She'd immediately called Caroline before breaking down in tears. She hadn't noticed when Stefan had disappeared, or Damon, but it was probably for the best, as she might have sent them both up in flames if the dead witches at the witch house hadn't been trying to do so already. Then Caroline had arrived, spotted the blood on Abby's mouth, and taken charge, forcing Bonnie into action long enough to get the three of them to Caroline's, where they'd stayed for the first night.

Bonnie finished off the last of her soda with a resounding slurp and shook her head, trying to clear the dark thoughts from it. She hadn't had any interaction with either of the Salvatores or Elena since that day. She knew that Elena had stopped that night to see her, but Caroline hadn't let her in, and Caro had told her that Stefan had stopped by the next morning asking for her, but Caro had put him in his place, telling him to get lost like the boss she was. Elena hadn't stopped trying to approach her at school, but Bonnie had kept her distance, and Caroline had backed her up every step of the way.

She sighed, and looked back down at her history book. Just a few more pages, she decided, and then she'd go and face Abby.

_BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB_

Kol stepped into the Mystic Grill and took a good look around, searching for a potential meal. There were a few appealing candidates, from the tall, leggy redhead in the far corner to the pretty girl with wavy dark hair sitting at a table by herself, reading some sort of book. But then his eyes landed on Rebekah's human boytoy, and he decided that eating could wait. He wanted to have a bit of fun first.

He stepped over to the blond-haired busboy, who was busy wiping up the counter at the bar.

"Rebekah sends her greetings," he told the...what had Damon Salvatore called him? The quarterback? Kol scoffed at the idea. This weakling was the leader of the football team? He didn't look like he could lead anything. He smirked as he watched the boy stiffen upon recognizing him.

"What do you want?"

Kol bit back a grin. He could smell the fear rolling off the blond, but the younger man was still putting up a tough front, as if he was some sort of match for a thousand year old vampire like Kol.

"I just wanted to say hi," Kol answered. "And to see how your hand was doing." He watched the human's eyes drop to the plaster cast covering his arm, and he saw the twitch in the boy's cheek. The injury was a definite sore spot for him.

"It's doing just fine," the boy answered, raising his eyes back up to meet Kol's. "Thanks for asking."

"How about we shake and put the past behind us?" Kol suggested, offering his hand, waiting to see if the boy would take the bait. If he was dumb enough to shake Kol's hand again, well, that was his problem.

"Matt?"

Kol turned to look at the girl standing a little bit behind him a couple of feet away. She was clearly addressing the quarterback and not him, but he couldn't take his eyes off her. She was the dark-haired girl who'd been reading, one of his potential meals. She appeared to be about the same age as his sister's human, but there was a look about her that said she was an old soul. Kol studied her for a moment, taking note of the way she licked her lips when she was nervous, her soft voice, her slightly elevated heartrate. She wasn't a vampire. No, she was definitely human. Prey.

And he was the predator.

"What do you need, Bon?" Matt asked.

"I'm sorry to interrupt," she said. "I was having some trouble with a calculus problem, and I thought maybe you could help."

Matt nodded. "Of course." He looked up at Kol. "Excuse me."

Kol fumed as he watched them walk away. That girl had stolen away the person he'd wanted to toy with, had deprived him of his fun. She was definitely moving to the top of his list of potential meals.

He glanced at the table where she'd been sitting, only to find her gathering up her things as she spoke to Matt. _Leaving already?_ Curious and suspicious, he listened in.

"You need to get out of here now, Matt," the girl was saying. "Before he corners you again."

"But my shift isn't over for another half hour," Matt answered.

"Just tell your boss you're sick," she suggested. "You aren't safe here right now."

As Matt nodded and took off in the other direction, away from Kol and the girl, Kol flashed over to the girl, causing her to stop dead in her tracks when she turned to leave the table. He might have lost one playtoy, but he wasn't letting the other get away.

"That was a quick calculus fix," Kol said, glancing down into bright green eyes, orbs that were glinting angrily back at him. He took a moment to study her face again. Caramel skin, cupid's bow lips, she was breathtaking despite the dark circles visible beneath her eyes. "Where did your friend go?"

"He wasn't feeling well," she answered, trying to step around Kol. Unfortunately for her, he was faster, and he shifted to block her path.

"And where are you going?" Kol could sense that she was getting impatient, and he bit back a smirk. Baiting humans was so much fun. The only thing better than getting under someone's skin was getting inside it. This one was pretty; he was tempted to do both.

"Nowhere you're invited," she answered, squeezing between him and the chair closest to her. Kol didn't step back, knowing full well that he was invading her personal space, and that she would hate it. As she stepped past him, he moved with her, matching her step for step until she stopped dead.

"Why would you want to leave?" Kol asked, leaning even further into the girl's personal space until he was speaking into her ear. "The night's still young." He pulled back a few inches so he could see her reaction, which was her eyes narrowing in anger. She did not like him, that much was obvious.

"Couldn't you come up with something a little more..." she hesitated a moment before finishing, to make certain he caught her meaning, "...original?"

Kol was no fool. This girl knew he was a vampire, and that he was one of the Original vampires, at that. That unsettled him more than he could fathom.

"Who are you?" Kol asked, realizing that she'd managed to turn the tables on him. He didn't like it, not one bit. "You have me at a disadvantage."

"And that's exactly where I plan to keep you," the girl answered, pushing past him.

Kol grabbed her arm, stopping her in her tracks. She turned around and glared at him, but he didn't release her.

"You know what I am," he prompted, wanting to know how a simple human he'd never seen before could possibly know who he was. With her armed with the knowledge of his identity, he couldn't let her just leave. Humans who knew about vampires were dangerous, even if he was immortal. They just caused too many annoying problems.

Kol watched her close her eyes, and a moment later, the hand he was holding her with started burning. He pulled his hand away, patted the flames out, and studied her, his eyes narrowing suspiciously.

"And now you know what_ I _am," she told him. She turned and walked away. This time, Kol let her. He wasn't ready to deal with a pissed-off witch.

_BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB_

Bonnie didn't get more than a dozen steps away from Kol when she slammed into someone.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled in apology as she turned around to face the person she'd hit. She'd been spending too much time looking behind herself, making certain Kol wasn't following her any longer, to pay attention to where she was walking.

"It's about time I got an apology from you," the person answered. "I've been waiting _forever_."

Bonnie recognized the voice before she looked up into the face, and the cocky grin on Damon Salvatore's face rekindled the anger that had been building in her towards him since he'd snapped Abby's neck.

"Get out of my way," she said, moving to walk around him, but like the other vampire she'd just faced off with, he was determined to stay in her path.

"Speaking of apologies," Damon said, "I wanted to-"

"Save your breath," Bonnie told him. "I don't _want_ your apology." What she wanted was for him to get out of her way, so she could leave. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Matt ducking out a door, and she let out a breath. He should be safe, as long as Kol didn't follow him. A quick glance back at Kol showed her that his eyes were glued to her and Damon.

"Give me a chance to-"

"To what?" Bonnie asked, cutting Damon off as she turned back around to focus on him. "To make things worse than they already are?" She stepped closer and glared up into his eyes, making sure he could see exactly how much she hated him. "Everyone I've lost is _directly_ tied to you in some way. Grams, Abby, everyone who could possibly teach me about my magic."

"Abby's still alive," Damon answered. "She can still help you with your magic."

"What don't you understand about the whole witch/vampire thing?" Bonnie asked. "Being undead is _not_ the same thing as being alive, and she can't practice magic with me. Stop trying to justify what you and Stefan did."

Damon hesitated a moment before speaking again. "I promise you, Bonnie, nothing like that will ever happen again."

Bonnie laughed, a harsh laugh. She didn't believe a single word that came out of his mouth. He was so good at speaking falsehoods he had probably come to believe most of them. "You also once promised to protect the Bennett line, but how many of us have been harmed at _your_ hand?" Damon's brow furrowed at her accusation, but she knew it to be justified, and so did he, she could see it in his eyes. "Your promises mean _nothing_ to me."

"We're on the same team, Bonnie," Damon said, not giving up.

Clearly, Damon was determined to get on Bonnie's last nerve. The _same team_?

"Are we?" she asked. "Because the last time I checked, I was on _Team Kill-the-Originals_, and you were on _Team-Kill-Everyone-Who-Means-Anything-to-Bonnie_. Well, other than Elena."

Damon's face went blank, and Bonnie knew that meant he was hiding something, something that bothered him, but then the frustrated look returned. She wasn't giving him anything to work with, he couldn't find any chinks in her armor.

It was clear Damon didn't like her words about them not being on the same team. Well, that was just too bad, she thought, because he was going to hear more of them.

"That's not fair," he said, looking like he wanted to convince her that she wasn't thinking the right things.

"Don't talk to me about _fair_," Bonnie told him. "I'm done being your pawn. You and your brother can fight your own battles from now on." Damon's jaw almost hit the ground at her words, and she took the moment to step past him, turning back to throw one last sentence his way. "Just leave me the hell alone."

As she walked away, she heard him call out after her, but she didn't stop, and he didn't chase her.

_BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB_

"Dammit!"

Damon watched Bonnie leaving for a moment before turning away, the sight of her walking away and their exchange bothering him more than he wanted to admit to himself. He came face to face with Kol Mikaelson, who wore an amused smirk on his face.

"I thought you ran away after Mommy tried to kill you," Damon snarked. Bonnie had ruined any good mood he'd had, and the Original standing in front of him would get the brunt of his pissiness, which would appease Damon's sudden urge to kill something.

Kol's grin widened. "I just couldn't resist the lure of this happening burg, especially with beauties like that-" he indicated Bonnie, who was just leaving the Grill, "-around. So, that's the little Bennett firecracker who faced off with my brother and still lives. I thought for sure she was going to set your ass on fire." Damon scowled. "I was hoping, actually. She's quite delightful."

Damon snorted. "She's a judgy little thing."

"Do you call her judgmental because she hates vampires?" Kol asked, invading Damon's personal space. "Or because she hates _you_?" The youngest Original paused to let his words sink in. "Because I agree with her assessment of you."

Damon grabbed Kol's jacket, while Kol just laughed.

"Is everything okay here?"

Before Damon even had time to look over at Liz Forbes, he'd released Kol and taken a step away from him, but he didn't miss the mocking laughter in the Original's eyes, or the smirk on his lips.

"Everything's fine," Damon answered, giving her a quick nod before turning his gaze briefly back to Kol just long enough to send a visual message to the Original. _We'll meet again soon._ He could read Kol's response, as well.

_I'm looking forward to it._

_BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB_

Bonnie sat on the edge of the chair, ready to spring into action at the first word. She was seated in one of the wooden kitchen chairs that used to belong to her Grams; Abby was sitting across the table from her. Abby and Caroline had been back to the house a while before Bonnie arrived, and Caroline had tactfully gone home when Bonnie appeared.

"Abby, do you want me to call Jamie?"

She asked Abby the same question every night, and she wondered which answer she'd get tonight. It would either be _'I'm not ready to see him yet,'_ or maybe _'not until it's safe for him,'_ or possibly even-

"Not until I'm sure I won't hurt him," Abby answered, her eyes hollow. Even two weeks after transitioning, she wasn't adjusting well to being a member of the undead, and despite having mostly given up her magical side, she was still a servant of nature, and her spirit was rebelling against her new identity. Bonnie could see the shadows under Abby's eyes. The woman - she couldn't bring herself to call her mother - was not taking this turn of events very well.

Not that Bonnie was taking it well, either. This woman had given birth to her, had abandoned her at the age of three, and had only come back into Bonnie's life because Bonnie had needed help to assist the Salvatores. _The Salvatores_. The name burned at her soul, and she brushed the thought away. This unwilling witch had become something she hated most, had become something Bonnie wasn't altogether comfortable with, either.

_That could have been me_, Bonnie thought. _Maybe it should have been_. She closed her eyes, fighting back her feelings of guilt. Abby wouldn't be a vampire if it hadn't been for Bonnie.

"Are you okay?" Abby asked, breaking the silence. Bonnie and Abby spent a lot of time in silence now, neither knowing what to say, not that either had really known before Abby was a vampire, either. But now, while they drew some sort of solace from each others' presence, very little conversation between the Bennett women took place. Abby spent more time speaking with Caroline, especially now that they had more in common with each other than Abby did with her daughter.

Bonnie blinked her eyes. She could feel the tears starting to come, and there was no way she was going to let Abby see her cry.

"I'm fine," Bonnie answered.

"I'm still the same person I was before the transition," Abby said, as if she believed that was the reason Bonnie was hesitating to reach out to her.

"Are you?" Bonnie asked. "Because I barely knew you then."

"Then get to know me now," Abby said.

Bonnie felt like Abby was pushing too hard. She wasn't ready to get to know Abby. Two weeks ago, before the incident, she'd been all for it. But now? She looked at the woman who'd given her life. Abby didn't look physically different than she had before, but Bonnie knew she wasn't the same. There was no possible way for Abby to still be the same person, because she was _dead_ now.

She stood up, almost knocking over her chair in the process. She grabbed it and kept it from falling over.

"I just-I need to get some air," she said, racing out of the room. She burst out through the front door and down the porch steps and onto the sidewalk.

She wasn't paying any attention to where she was going, she just started following the sidewalk as the tears streamed down her face. She sniffled, wiping her cheeks as she went, unable to stop the flow of tears. Nothing had been right these past two weeks, nothing, and it had all happened because of her involvement with the Salvatores.

Her thoughts turned inward as she continued on, blaming herself for being stupid enough to trust the Salvatores, blaming Elena for trusting Elijah, blaming Klaus for the carnage of all their lives. She was unaware of her direction or her surroundings until she bumped into someone.

"Bonnie?"

The voice was like a lightning bolt down her spine. Stefan Salvatore.

Bonnie stepped back away from him and took a quick glance around. She wasn't far from her father's house, which was on the opposite side of Mystic Falls from the Salvatore Boarding House.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, her question coming out sounding rude.

"I was just out for a walk," Stefan answered, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"Trying to find a way to kill me too?" she asked, anger filling her words as it filled her body. She could feel her muscles tensing, preparing for a fight. She pulled her hair away from her neck, tilted her head, and offered herself to Stefan. "Go ahead."

"I'm not going to hurt you, Bonnie," Stefan said. It stung to see her this angry with him, but he knew he deserved every bit of it. He could almost make out the residue of tears on her cheeks, and if he wasn't already drowning in guilt, he would have been flooded with it.

"Too late," she told him, glaring up at him when he refused her blood. "It's too bad that the only life you value is Elena's." She turned around and started to walk away.

"We do value your life, Bonnie," Stefan called out, walking after her.

_We value your life?_

Bonnie turned around, her anger with Stefan and his brother burning brightly. "No," she corrected. "You value my help. And why is it every time I help you, someone I care about ends up dead?"

Stefan had no answer for her.

Her voice softened, as did her eyes, when she thought of her best friend, who loved Stefan, and maybe loved Damon. "I do appreciate that you care about and keep Elena safe. I do. But you used to care about collateral damage, too."

"We still do," Stefan answered. "We tried to do things a different way. We tried to dagger Kol and take down all the Originals so we wouldn't have to harm you or your mother."

"But as a hybrid Klaus is immune to daggering," Bonnie said. Caroline had filled her in on the Salvatores' Plan B. "You should have called and kept me in the loop."

"You're right," Stefan agreed, stepping forward to stand right in front of Bonnie. He looked down into her green eyes, which looked gray in the moonlight. He hoped she'd see the apology in his eyes, even if she refused to listen to the words. "We were hoping it would never come to that."

"But it did come to that," Bonnie answered. There was silence for a minute, neither of them knowing what to say. Finally, Bonnie spoke again. "The worst thing is, I expected something like that from Damon, but never from you. I thought we were friends." She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes again, but she blinked them away.

"We _are_ friends," Stefan said.

"No," Bonnie answered, shaking her head before meeting Stefan's gaze. "We _were_ friends. I'll never be able to trust you again."

Stefan looked down at his feet and swallowed hard before answering. "I know."

Bonnie looked away, her tears only barely being held in check. "You should go."

Stefan nodded, accepting her words despite not wanting to. With a heavy heart, he turned around and walked away. But even from a block away, he could hear Bonnie's sobs as she broke down, and it took everything he had to keep walking.

_BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB_


	3. Setting the Wheels in Motion

**A/N: Sorry this has taken so long, I haven't been overly inspired by the show of late, but I do plan to keep writing and posting this story, though it's hard since I've been having a lot of Klonnie feelings lately, especially with 3x18 coming up.  
><strong> 

**And, since I keep forgetting, I'd better get this in here:**

**Disclaimer: These characters are the creative property of LJ Smith and The CW. I am not profiting in any way from their use. The only thing I own is my plot.**

.

.

.

**CHAPTER TWO - Setting the Wheels in Motion**

Kol walked into the Mikaelson home early the next morning, having just finished gorging himself on a pair of women he'd met at the Grill. He was full, for he'd drunk them both dry, but unsatisfied. His thoughts kept straying to the Bennett witch, and her emerald green eyes that sparked with anger when she'd looked at him, the way her tantalizing mouth would purse when she spoke to him, how her blood screamed through her veins when she was afraid.

He had to have her.

"Just getting in?"

Kol walked into the living room, where Klaus was once again seated in the same chair he could normally be found, but he was, for once, without his sketchpad. Instead, he was holding a glass of whiskey and studying the flames in the fireplace. Kol lifted an eyebrow, half-tempted to say something insulting, but he thought better of it and sat down on the sofa. He threw his legs up onto the cushions, grinning at Klaus's annoyed look about him putting his feet on the furniture.

"So I met a lovely young thing tonight," Kol said, hoping that his brother would be willing to divulge any pertinent information he know about the Bennetts.

"You always meet lovely young things," Klaus sighed. "Right before you kill them." He took a swig of his drink.

"But this one still lives," Kol told him. "A sassy little human. Dark hair, green eyes, hates the Salvatores with a passion."

"Bonnie Bennett?" Klaus asked, perking up a little bit, perhaps from surprise. "And just how did you meet the charming little witch?"

"She stepped in while I was trying to play with Rebekah's human," Kol answered.

"And you're still walking around?" Klaus asked, surprised. "She didn't use her magic to try and tear you limb from limb?"

"We were in a public place," Kol said, shrugging. "She burned my hand." He described the run-in, reliving the details as he spoke. "And then she faced off with Damon Salvatore, who's lucky she didn't hand him his head on a platter." Klaus snickered at the idea, only making Kol more intrigued. "What happened there? I thought she was working with the Salvatores."

"She was. But when _Mother_," Klaus spit the word out angrily, "tried to kill us this last time, before she and Finn fled, she was channeling the magic of the Bennett line, and when Elijah found out about the spell, he kidnapped Elena to use as insurance."

"Elena?" Kol asked, not sure of the doppelganger's name. "The carbon copy?"

Klaus snorted at the description. "Basically. Since both of the Salvatores love the girl, he used her safety against them, forcing them to break the Bennett line."

"They killed one of the witches," Kol guessed.

"Not quite," Klaus shook his head. "Mother can channel dead witches. They turned one of the witches. Bonnie's estranged mother. Thus, they severed the magic."

"And that's what caused Mother's spell to fail," Kol pieced together. "And that's why she and Finn fled."

"And that's why Bonnie despises the Salvatores now," Klaus concluded.

Kol nodded, thinking on the severity of the betrayal. Witches simply didn't become vampires. It wasn't in their natures, and the few he knew who had transitioned had loathed themselves as much as his brother Finn did. For someone you trusted to do that to a member of your family, no matter how distant, had to hurt.

"No wonder she was so angry with him," Kol said. He might hate his family at times, but they were still family, and no one was allowed to hurt them; well, no one but each other. "He's lucky he walked out of there alive."

"Are you sympathizing with the witch who tried to help Mother kill us?" Klaus asked. "The witch who tried to kill me two other times?"

"The witch who found the way for you to successfully make hybrids?" Kol pointed out. He'd been caught up on a lot of the details of Klaus's interactions with the citizens of Mystic Falls while he'd been daggered, pieced together from things Klaus, Elijah, and Rebekah had told both him and Finn once they'd been undaggered. He knew that without Bonnie saving the doppelganger's life in the first place, Klaus wouldn't be able to make his hybrids, and she'd intervened to save the girl's life again later, when Klaus needed a fix to the process.

"She hates me," Klaus reminded his brother. "She hates _us_, what we are, who we are."

"She hates them now, too," Kol said, thinking of the Salvatores. "And what do they say? The enemy of my enemy...?"

"She isn't likely to be our friend, Kol," Klaus said, taking a large swallow of his drink. Still, the idea had potential. The girl had power, more power than she realized, raw and unharnessed. If they could sway her to their side, there was little, he thought, they couldn't accomplish in Mystic Falls, and maybe even the whole of the east coast.

"Then maybe," Kol suggested, "we need to start by being _her_ friend."

_BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB_

Bonnie pulled into the parking lot at the school, and when she stopped the car, she glanced at the clock.

"I can't believe we're this early," she said, shaking her head.

"I told you we were," Caroline said from the passenger seat as she unbuckled. "You're still not sleeping well, are you?"

Bonnie shrugged.

"I know those idiots upset you last night," Caroline said. "And I'm more than willing to kick their asses for you." That got a slight smile out of her friend. "But you're going to have to toughen up, because I don't think they're going anywhere, and you will run into them again."

Bonnie sighed. "I know. It's just-"

"They hurt you," Caroline cut in. "They betrayed your trust, and by hurting you, they hurt all of us." Caro turned in her seat. "But it's not going to happen again, because I won't let it."

Bonnie felt her eyes starting to water as she smiled at her friend. She sucked in a breath and turned away to open her door and stopped. Across the lot, she spotted Alaric and Elena getting out of a car and heading into the school together. It surprised her, because Elena was always with one of the vampires, and if Damon wasn't bringing her to school, then Stefan, even as a ripper, was.

"They hurt Elena by hurting you, too," Caroline, following Bonnie's gaze, said. "She's pretty much cut all ties with the Salvatores."

"She has?" Bonnie asked, turning back to her vampire best friend. That news surprised her.

"I haven't really talked to her about it," Caroline answered. "But Matt told me that she's taking time away from the two of them to evaluate her life."

Bonnie was silent, contemplating the enormity of this. Elena had been consumed with the Salvatores, almost from the time they'd hit town, almost to the point where she and Caroline, and even Matt, had felt like they hadn't mattered as much to their friend as the vampire brothers had. Maybe she'd been wrong about that.

"Let's get going," Caroline said, opening her door. "I want to try to call Tyler before homeroom."

_BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB_

Bonnie fought to stay awake through third period English. She didn't have class with either Elena or Caroline, and while she hadn't been happy about the scheduling at the beginning of the school year, she was kind of relieved about it now. It was one of the few classes she didn't have with either of her friends, or even with Matt. Tyler was supposed to be in class with her, but since he'd disappeared a few weeks back, she didn't even have him in the class anymore. Without Elena, she didn't have to face her friend, as things had become awkward and uncertain between them, and she wasn't even sure how she felt anymore. And as much as she loved Caroline, it was good to be free of her overprotectiveness, even if just for forty-five minutes.

The bell rang, signaling the end of class. Bonnie grabbed her backpack and shoved her textbook inside, and then she joined the crowd leaving the classroom. She had history next, two classrooms down, and unlike her English course, this one she shared with her friends.

Halfway to the classroom, someone cut directly into Bonnie's path, forcing her to stop abruptly. She looked up, not in the mood to deal with one of her annoying classmates, when she spotted the disturbingly handsome face of Kol Mikaelson atop the well-built body in front of her. His eyes sparkled and his lips curved up into a smirk as she met his gaze.

"Hello Bonnie," he greeted her.

Bonnie took a step back and turned around, but she was forced to stop when Kol appeared in front of her again.

"You don't have to run from me, Bonnie," Kol said.

Bonnie looked around at the crowd of students surging past from either direction. No one was paying any attention, whatsoever, to the Original vampire in their midst, or the fact that he was talking to her as if he was a simple student and not a thousand years old.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, taking a step back away from him before running into the crowd again. He followed, stepping closer.

"I had to make your acquaintance," Kol said, registering the surprise on her face. "Yesterday, when we first met, I thought you delectible enough to make a meal out of you."

A tremor went through Bonnie at his admission. He was going to kill her, and now that she wasn't channeling the power of a hundred dead witches, there was nothing she could do to stop him, especially not here, in the middle of the school and hundreds of students. She swallowed, refusing to let him see her fear.

"But when I learned who you are," Kol continued, "my plans changed."

His words took Bonnie by surprise.

"What do you mean, changed?" she asked. "What plans?"

Kol smirked. She was afraid, he could smell it, but she was a tough one, hiding her fear. And she was intrigued.

"With your beauty and power combined with mine," Kol said, "we would be unstoppable." He reached out and ran a finger along her cheek, savoring in the softness of her skin.

"Get the hell away from her!"

Someone cut in between Bonnie and Kol, and it took a moment for Bonnie to realize that the long brown hair in front of her belonged to Elena. All she could see was the back of her friend, but she could see the tension in her frame as she prepared to protect Bonnie.

Kol snorted and took a step back. "Doppelganger."

"What are you doing?" Bonnie asked, trying to step around Elena, but the other girl refused to budge from in front of her.

"I don't know what you want from Bonnie," Elena said, "but you're not going to get it."

Kol laughed. "And how do you plan to stop me, human? I could kill you in the blink of an eye."

"And risk your brother's wrath?" Elena asked, knowing that Klaus would be beyond furious if anything happened to her.

Kol just smirked. "I _live_ for Klaus's wrath," he said, leaning closer.

Bonnie tried to pull Elena out of Kol's way when someone else joined the fray.

"Is there a problem here?"

_Alaric_, Bonnie thought, breathing a sigh of relief. She wasn't sure why, but just knowing he had their backs made her feel a little bit better, even if he was fresh out of the hospital. He had years of experience as a vampire hunter, and she was certain that if someone in the school had a weapon on them, it was her history teacher.

"You don't have a dagger with you today," Kol said, recognizing Alaric from the night his mother had tried to kill them all. Alaric had been working with the Salvatores and had daggered him.

"That doesn't mean I'm without weapons," Alaric answered, hinting strongly at the existence of a few good wooden stakes.

Kol's gaze shifted down the hall, where he spotted a blonde-haired girl, the vampire his brother had been chasing around just before Kol had been daggered, heading up the hall towards them, and she didn't look happy to see him.

He knew enough to retreat when he was outnumbered.

Kol glared at Alaric. "This isn't over." And then his eyes moved to Bonnie, who was still slightly angled behind the doppelganger, and his expression softened. "I'll be seeing you again, really soon."

With those words, he was gone. Bonnie stared after him, finally allowing the fear that she'd been fighting to consume her. She didn't notice when the halls started clearing, as the students found their classrooms. She jumped when Caroline reached them and put a hand on her shoulder.

Elena turned to face them.

"What does he want with you?" she asked, worried for her friend. It was clear that Kol had taken some sort of interest in Bonnie.

"My magic," Bonnie answered, certain of it.

Caroline shook her head. "Your body." Both Bonnie and Elena turned and gave her funny looks. "I saw the look in his eyes when he was looking at you, Bon. Predatory bedroom eyes." The expressions on the other girls' faces didn't change. "Well, he _was_ daggered for a long time." Bonnie shook her head, and Elena bit back a grin at Caroline's outrageous, if somewhat accurate, notion. "What? Vampires have needs too."

Alaric cleared his throat, making all three jump. "It's time we get to class."

Bonnie nodded, suddenly relieved about the prospect of having class with her friends, and she and the other girls followed Alaric into the classroom.

_BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB_

When Damon answered the door, he was surprised to see Alaric standing there. He hadn't had much contact with his favorite drinking buddy since Elena had asked for space, although he'd seen him around the Grill a couple of times.

"I thought we were meeting for drinks later," he said.

"I think we might have a problem," Alaric said, brushing past Damon and into the boarding house. Damon scowled at the rudeness of the vampire hunter's behavior.

"And what kind of problem might that be?" the vampire asked, closing the door. He followed Alaric into the living room.

"Is Stefan here?" Alaric asked. The other Salvatore, with his sharp hearing, appeared not a minute later, having heard the history teacher arrive and ask about him.

"What's going on, Alaric?"

Alaric sighed, knowing that Bonnie would be pissed if she knew he was sharing this information with the Salvatores, but he also knew they stood the best chance of protecting her from what he was afraid was coming.

"Kol Mikaelson made an appearance at the school today," Alaric told them.

"Interesting," Damon said, sounding bored as he took a swig from the ever present glass of whiskey in his hand.

"Why was Kol at the school?" Stefan asked, taking Alaric's words more seriously than his brother. Stefan had always taken things more seriously than his dark-haired sibling.

"Bonnie," Alaric answered. "I think he was there to try and stake a claim to her."

"Not our problem," Damon answered, taking another drink as he turned away. He didn't want to think about the little witch, or about the complicated emotions he had in regards to her. He didn't want to picture the fire in her eyes or the angry clenching of her jaw when she told him that she wanted nothing to do with them any more. He wanted to tell her that she was on _her_ own.

"What kind of claim?" Stefan asked. Unlike Damon, he was more than willing to own up to his complicity in the betrayal of his friend, and he refused to hide how much he wanted to make things better between them. Bonnie didn't trust easily, but she'd trusted him. He hadn't realized how much that simple thing had meant to him until he lost it.

"What does it matter?" Damon questioned. "She doesn't want to have anything to do with us." His natural instinct in this case was to not get involved. Bonnie would be pissed if she knew they were hovering in her hemisphere. At the same time, Alaric was right. The little psychotic Original sniffing around after Bonnie could mean serious trouble for the pretty witch.

Stefan ignored his brother. He repeated his question.

"Caroline thinks-"

"Caroline thinks?" Damon, feeling snarky, cut in. "That's new."

"Don't be an ass," Alaric told him.

"What does Caroline think?" Stefan asked.

"She thinks Kol has a crush of sorts on Bonnie," Alaric answered. He wasn't convinced, or at least, he wasn't completely convinced.

"And what do you think?"

"I think there could be more to it," Alaric said. "You guys drove a major wedge between yourselves and Bonnie. Maybe the Originals are trying to win her over to their side."

"Never gonna happen," Damon said, finishing off his drink. He headed over to the liquor to pour himself another glass. Lord knew, he needed it. "She hates them more than she hates us."

"Are you sure about that?" Alaric answered. "When the bad guy betrays you, you aren't surprised because you expected it. When the good guy betrays you, well, that's a different story."

"Again, no danger," Damon said. "She's never seen me as anything but bad."

But even to himself, the words rang hollow, and he knew them to be untrue. Almost from the start, she'd held him to a ridiculously high standard, and he'd made every effort to be that person she expected him to be. Hell, when he was around her, he didn't even have to really try. It hadn't been easy for him to earn her trust or respect after he bit her the night Emily had possessed her and destroyed the necklace that would have freed Katherine, or so he'd believed at the time. But she never played games with him, he always knew where he stood with her. He respected her enough to actually be _that_ man, the one she expected him to be, because she held him accountable for his screwups, and she didn't just forgive and forget.

_That_ was Elena. She'd always held Stefan to a higher standard than she held him. Even when Stefan was in full-blown ripper mode, she was more angry with Stefan for not caring that Klaus had tried to kill Jeremy than she'd been with Damon when he'd actually snapped the boy's neck. Sure, she'd been angry for a short while, but she'd forgiven him, because it was _him_, and who expected Damon to _not_ screw up?

Bonnie. Not Elena, never Elena. That was becoming more and more clear to him since she'd walked out of his life. Since his father's death, there had only been one person other than the witch who held him accountable for his actions, and it sure as hell wasn't Elena.

"Well, when you do stupid shit like turning her mother, what do you expect her to see you as? Some sort of fucking hero?" Alaric asked. The words cut Damon more than he expected, not because Alaric was calling him on his stupidity, which he could readily admit, but because he was coming to realize that he'd betrayed one of the only two people who had ever expected him to be more than just a monster.

_BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB_

**A/N: For those of you worried, things are far from patched up between Bonnie and Elena just from that one scene, they still have a long way to go before things are good between them.**


	4. Dealings with Originals

**A/N: I apologize for the delay, I haven't felt inspired to write this at all, but I didn't want to keep you guys hanging. There's a very brief Klonnie moment, but it doesn't last long. This isn't my favorite chapter, but I hope you guys enjoy it anyway!**

**Disclaimer: These characters are the creative property of LJ Smith and The CW. I am not profiting in any way from their use. The only thing I own is my plot.**

.

.

.

**CHAPTER THREE**

The view from the bleachers wasn't that great, but Caroline had insisted that Bonnie stay after school while she was at cheerleading practice so she wouldn't bump into Kol without backup. So here Bonnie sat, feeling both bored silly at sitting around with nothing much to do, and awkward, since Elena had decided to stay as well.

Neither girl really knew what to say to the other. Even though Elena had stepped up for Bonnie earlier when Kol had approached her, there were still a lot of things they needed to discuss, and Bonnie didn't know how to bring any of them up, or even if she was really ready to talk things out. Yes, Elena was one of her two closest friends, and the doppelganger hadn't meant to be the cause of so much destruction in Bonnie's life, but unfortunately, she was, and Bonnie was uncertain how to move forward with their friendship.

They sat there in an uncomfortable silence, staring down at the practice field, where Caroline was drilling the cheerleading squad. At one time, a couple of years back, both Bonnie and Elena had been on the squad with their friend. But once Elena's parents died, and the Salvatores had come into their lives, both had become so busy they no longer were willing to make the time to cheer, unlike Caroline. Neither of them felt like they had much to cheer about anymore, even though Caroline tried to convince them cheering would distract them from their other woes.

Bonnie let her mind wander back to her encounter with Kol. What had the handsome Original meant when he'd said he had plans for her? Had he really thought she'd just abandon her friends and join forces with him? The only things she really knew about him were that he'd broken Matt's hand during the Mikaelson's ball, that he was just as brash as his siblings, maybe moreso, and that Damon had snapped his neck.

The single thought about Damon burned her good mood. It was too bad that Kol hadn't snapped D-

"So..."

Bonnie almost jumped when Elena broke the stillness. She'd been lost in her dark thoughts, and she'd briefly forgotten the girl was sitting to her right.

"So..." she answered, unsure what Elena wanted to say. It was better to let Elena lead, since she still wasn't quite ready to bring up certain things.

"So, how are things going with Abby?" Elena asked, glancing up to meet Bonnie's eyes.

Bonnie looked away. She could hear the effort in Elena's words, she knew her friend truly wanted to know, but Bonnie wasn't ready to discuss her mother yet. However, she knew that avoiding Elena's question would only bring more questions, or more apologies, or both, and she didn't want that. Better to answer now than to fend off an endless string of apologies.

"Slowly," she answered after a minute, keeping her eyes glued to the cheerleaders, who were being led through a routine by her blonde friend. "Though at this point, I think she's a bit more comfortable with the idea of living forever than I am."

"I'm-" A loud ringing cut Elena off, and the girl looked at her phone. "I'm sorry, Bon, I have to take this."

Bonnie nodded, suppressing a sigh of relief as Elena stood up and walked down and off the bleachers. Bonnie watched as the other girl disappeared around the end of the metal seats. Alone with her thoughts again, she couldn't keep her mind from returning to Kol and his deep, dark eyes. What did he want with her? And why? What was wrong with the Originals, trying to convince someone who didn't like them to work with them? Surely there were dozens of witches out there who would be willing to work with them. Greta and her family, Maddox, they couldn't be the only ones. Why come after the unwilling one?

She didn't know what possessed her to stand up, but a minute later, she'd climbed down off the bleachers. She glanced out at the field, where Caroline was too focused on practice to pay attention. She looked around for Elena, but she didn't see her anywhere. With a little nod to herself, she hurried away from the field.

_**BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB**_

She didn't know what she was doing here. She had to be crazy, she knew it, she could admit that much. It was madness, what she was planning. No sensible person would be here, at the home of her enemies, confronting them on their home turf. Taking a deep gulp of air, she opened her door and stepped out of her car before she could talk herself out of this. She studied the building in front of her as she walked up to what she assumed was the front door.

The mansion was huge, probably the largest estate in the area of Mystic Falls, with more than enough room to house half a dozen original vampires. Luckily for her, there were only half that many, but it was still more than she wanted to face.

Which was exactly why this was a bad idea. She lifted her hand to ring the doorbell and stopped, her finger hovering over the button. This was a bad idea. Yes, she wanted answers, but did she really think she'd get anything resembling the truth from any of the Originals? Or, maybe it was the truth that scared her.

Her finger remained poised above the buzzer, her muscles locked in a war with her mind. She should just turn around and leave, no harm no foul. But still, she didn't move, her internal battle leaving her immobilized.

The door in front of her opened, and she looked up, startled. She'd forgotten that the vampires had such finely tuned hearing that they had probably heard her the moment she'd pulled into the driveway.

"Bonnie Bennett," Klaus greeted. He was surprised to find the young witch at his door, though not disappointed. He enjoyed when his antagonists came knocking, it always created an interesting diversion from an otherwise boring day. "What a pleasant surprise."

Bonnie hadn't expected the pleasantries. She got right to the reason she was there. "Is Kol here?"

"No," Klaus answered, as surprised by the question as he'd been to see the Bennett girl at his home. She was looking for his deviant of a brother? Odd. "He's gone out." Klaus studied Bonnie's face, watching in amusement at the irritation warring with relief on her face. He'd known that Kol had wanted to recruit her to Team Original, but surely she wasn't ready to sign on already. "Why might you be looking for my younger brother?"

"You need to keep him on a shorter leash," Bonnie answered, unwilling to share his brother's apparent interest in her with him. "He threatened to kill Elena earlier."

"Did he now?" Klaus asked, his voice deceptively quiet, but Bonnie could hear the anger in his soft words. She took a nervous step back as Klaus's jaw clenched. She'd just upset him, and an upset Original was an unpredictable Original. She mentally prepared herself for his next move, but she wasn't expecting the reaction she got. "I can assure you, Bonnie, that will never happen again."

Bonnie swallowed and nodded, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear as she turned. She jumped back a foot, startled to find Klaus standing in front of her again. Damn these Originals, she thought, they seemed to like doing that to her.

"You are more than welcome to come inside," Klaus invited, "and wait for Kol, if you wish." He watched as a multitude of emotions flickered across her face, fear, curiosity, temptation, more fear. He realized, in that moment, just how pretty she was with her guard momentarily down, but then determination returned to her eyes, and he shook his head, ridding it of any thoughts of impropriety. This girl wasn't simply indifferent to him, she hated him, she'd tried to kill him, she was dangerous to him. He couldn't go there, and after the disaster that had been him chasing recklessly after her friend, he wasn't in any hurry to chase after any other eighteen year old girls any time soon.

What Bonnie heard was, _come into my parlor, said the spider to the fly._ What she saw in his deep blue eyes scared her more than his words, however.

"No, thank you," she blurted out, hightailing it around him and heading for her car. She was relieved that he didn't chase her down. She climbed in and drove away.

_**BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB**_

Kol had barely stepped foot inside _Casa Mikaelson_ before he was slammed to the wall, a death grip on his throat, his brother's furious face mere inches from his.

"Niklaus," Kol greeted with a smirk. He had a good idea what the hybrid was upset about, though he wasn't sure how he knew about the incident. He didn't really care, however. They all had fairly decent sources of information, even if Kol hadn't made contact with any of his in a hundred years.

"You will never threaten the doppelganger's life again," Klaus said, his eyes glowing yellow in anger. He squeezed his brother's throat and released him.

Kol, twisting his neck from side to side to work out the kinks from Klaus's death grip, laughed and shoved his older brother away from him. He straightened his shirt as Klaus regrouped. He gave his brother a moment to calm down before speaking.

"I wouldn't have threatened her in the first place if she'd have stayed out of my way," Kol informed his sibling. "The idiot girl stepped between me and my prey." He had no use for the Gilbert girl, just as he'd had no use for the previous doppelganger, or the first of the Petrova line. His tastes in women had always run different from his brothers', and all of the Petrovas had been far too willing and easily won for his tastes.

"And what prey might that be?" Klaus asked, reigning in his fury. Bonnie had left some details out of her story, but nevertheless, his brother _had_ threatened the life of his hybrid-making blood source, and he couldn't allow that.

"The Bennett witch, of course," Kol answered, smirking as if he thought the answer should have been completely obvious.

Klaus snickered. "Of course." It explained a little bit more why Bonnie had stopped. Elena must have cut short whatever interaction his brother was having with the little witch, and she'd been curious to find out more. "So what exactly happened?"

Kol explained the events earlier in the day.

"And you say she looked intrigued?" Klaus said after Kol had finished speaking.

Kol shrugged. "Intrigued, apprehensive, same difference, right?"

Klaus lifted an eyebrow, debating on whether or not to tell Kol that the girl had stopped to see him. He was half tempted to say nothing, but another part of him just wanted to stir the pot a bit.

"She came here, you know," Klaus said, carefully watching his brother's reaction. "Earlier."

"Looking for me?" Kol asked, a small smile flickering to his lips.

Klaus noticed that his brother wasn't certain about it, but that he sounded hopeful. Klaus felt a surge of irritation at his brother's excitement, though he wasn't sure why. "She probably came here to set you on fire."

"Too late for that," Kol answered, lifting his eyebrows suggestively. He'd been on fire for the Bennett witch since the moment she singed his fingers at the Grille. She was pretty and sassy, and from all he knew about her, not afraid of facing off with an Original or two. He liked that in a woman. Add to that fact she was a witch, and one with much potential, and she was like catnip for him.

It didn't take a genius to figure out his brother had a thing for the pretty witch, and Klaus was far from an idiot. "Well," he said, laughing softly, "you do like a challenge."

_**BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB**_

"What were you thinking?" Caroline asked as she took the seat opposite Bonnie. She'd finally caught up with her friend at the Grille, once practice was over and she realized that her witchy friend had ditched her. "How am I supposed to protect you this way?"

"I appreciate it, Care, I do," Bonnie told her. "But there was something I had to do."

"What something?" Caroline was just as annoyed that Elena had bailed, as she'd thought the other girl would help keep something of an eye on Bonnie after the incident with Kol in the hallway earlier.

"Beautiful," Kol said, surprising Bonnie. She hadn't seen him enter the restaurant before he spoke. He walked over to the table and bent down, closing the distance between himself and the witch. "If I had known you were dropping by earlier, I'd have made certain I was home."

"Don't call me that," Bonnie said, glancing over at Caroline, who reacted to Kol's words as she would have expected, giving Bonnie a confused, _what the hell is he talking about?, _ look. Something was going on, something she knew nothing about. Had Bonnie gone to the Mikaelson estate looking for him?

"Why not?" Kol asked, his eyes locking onto hers. "That's what your name means, isn't it? _Bonny_?"

Bonnie flushed, torn between anger and embarrassment. Vampires, other than Caroline, only ever wanted her for her magic; she wasn't used to having one trying to flirt with her. They usually reserved their attentions for Elena and Caroline. But Kol hadn't looked at Caroline since he'd arrived at the table, and his selective attention was making her uncomfortable.

"What do you want with me?" she asked, finally managing to move past her discomfort enough to speak.

"What does any red-blooded male want from a beautiful woman?" Kol answered.

Bonnie bit back a disbelieving laugh, and it came out sounding somewhat like a snort. "Right." She could count on her one hand the number of times a male other than her father had called her beautiful, and those had run mostly to Jeremy, who had cheated on her with the ghost of his ex-girlfriend. His actions had invalidated his words, as far as she was concerned.

"Have you looked in a mirror lately?" Kol asked, leaning down and running a finger across Bonnie's cheek. He was surprised that she allowed him that much contact, but he could hear her heartbeat picking up speed, and he knew she was either scared, or excited, or perhaps a bit of both. "Do you not see what I see? The passion etched in every line of your face? The maturity and wisdom in your emerald eyes? The sorrow in the way you purse your luscious lips?"

Bonnie sucked in a stunned breath, surprised that Kol could possibly see her this way. He was a thousand years old; surely, he'd seen plenty of women more attractive than she was. Of course, he had a thousand years of practicing his charm, as well. He was a vampire, a heartless and soulless killer. The _enemy_. She refused to entertain any ideas about his sincerity.

"Wow," Caroline said from the other side of the table. She'd seen how Bonnie was reacting to the vampire, and she knew that her friend wasn't likely to fall for his sweet words, but he was definitely pouring on the charm, and she could see the confusion clouding her friend's eyes. She trusted that Bonnie wouldn't fall for the Original's charm; nevertheless, no words were forthcoming from Bonnie's mouth, so she decided to break the silence. "Laying it on pretty thick there, aren't you?"

"A beautiful lady won too quickly is nary one I deem worth having," Kol answered, not taking his eyes from Bonnie's.

"What?" Caroline asked, confused by his quick answer.

Bonnie, shaking off the effects of Kol's poetic words, finally found her voice. "Well, you might as well quit now. I'm not interested." She finally tore her eyes away from his.

"You don't find me handsome?" Kol asked, not surprised by Bonnie's reaction. He was well aware of, but completely undeterred by, her aversion towards vampires. He was stubborn, and he liked a good chase, and Bonnie was definitely going to give him that.

"No, of course you're handsome," Bonnie answered, "for a thousand year old homicidal dead guy."

Caroline couldn't keep back a laugh. She knew how Bonnie felt about vampires in general, especially now that the Salvatores had destroyed all the trust she'd placed in them. Caroline knew that she was a rare exception to her best friend; unlike the other vampires Bonnie had met, Caroline would never betray her.

"So, my being a vampire is a fatal flaw?" Kol asked, determined to win her over, or at least to get enough information to be able to plan his next course of attack.

Bonnie raised an eyebrow at his casual use of the word _fatal_, an ironic word coming from a vampire. "Yes."

"So, if I were human, would you still feel this way about me?"

Bonnie nodded, sighing softly before speaking. "If you were human, you'd have died a thousand years ago, and we wouldn't be having this ridiculous conversation." She glanced at Caroline and rolled her eyes.

"Has there never been a vampire you've liked?" Kol asked, persistent in his quest for information on the Bennett witch's weaknesses. There had to be one somewhere; he'd find it and use it to his advantage.

Bonnie was quiet for a moment, and Caroline could almost read the thoughts running through her, just based on the expressions on her face. "There used to be one," Bonnie admitted, "but he betrayed me." Then another face popped into her mind. "And there's Finn, of course."

"My self-sacrificing big brother?" Kol asked. "You wound me. You should just stick a dagger in me than tell me you prefer Finn to me."

"I'm sorry, I don't have one of those daggers," Bonnie answered. "But if you give me some time, I'll see if I can find one."

Kol laughed, amused by her sass. No, this wasn't going to be easy. That was good. He didn't like easy.

Caroline could sense that Bonnie had reached the limit of her comfort zone, and she wasn't sure what would happen if Kol kept trying to push her friend. She stood up, catching the attention of both of them.

"Okay, Baby Klaus," Caroline said, putting an end to the Original's flirting. "It's time for Bonnie and me to go."

"Baby Klaus?" Kol asked, clearly insulted by the nickname. He was offended that anyone would think him to be anything like his older brother. "You haven't even ordered yet."

"That's okay," Bonnie said, standing up to second Caroline's move. She needed to go before she lost all patience and set the Original on fire, or before his gentle wooing could have any effect on her. "I've lost my appetite."

Kol stood back without speaking as the girls walked out the Grille. When she reached the door, Bonnie looked back and found the youngest male Original still watching her. He nodded, and she scurried out the door, escaping his overwhelming presence.

Kol smirked. Despite her brave words, he knew he was starting to get under her skin.

_**BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB**_

Bonnie was just locking the house up for the night when she heard footsteps on the porch. She closed her eyes and leaned her head against the wall, wishing everything and everyone would just go away and leave her in peace for a while. She listened as whoever it was knocked on the door, and she waited, hoping the person would just go away. After a minute, the knocks were repeated. Again, she hesitated, not really wanting to deal with anyone.

"Bonnie! I know you're home!"

The young witch sighed. _Elena._

"Please answer the door," Elena yelled.

Bonnie sighed. She knew Elena well. The Gilbert girl would not go away until she got what she wanted, which apparently was to talk to Bonnie. Unfortunately, Elena knew her just as well. She walked over to the door and unlocked it, pulled it open, fought hard to keep the irritation she felt from showing on her face.

"Bonnie, hey," Elena greeted. She looked a little bit winded, her cheeks were flushed, almost like she'd run there. Something was clearly up.

"What's going on?" Bonnie asked, her voice flat. If it was something to do with the Salvatores, they were out of luck. Nothing on the planet could convince her to work with them again.

"I need you to come with me," Elena said, motioning to the black Jeep Cherokee sitting in the driveway.

"I'm not helping the Salvatores with anything," Bonnie told her. She knew it was too much to ask that Elena stay away from the two vampires for any amount of time.

Elena shook her head. "This isn't about them."

Not about the Salvatores? Elena hadn't gone running to them? Bonnie was curious. "So what is it about?"

"Just come with me, Bonnie," Elena said. "Everything will be explained when we get there."

"When we get where?"

"A small apartment across town," Elena said. She could see Bonnie hesitating. "I promise you, Bon, it's safe."

A small part of Bonnie wanted to tell Elena that she wasn't _afraid_, she just didn't want to get sucked into another crazy scheme that would get someone she cared about hurt or killed. But curiosity was getting the better of her. She just hated when people refused to give her the information she wanted, often the information she needed.

"Fine," she answered, grabbing her jacket from the coat rack next to the door before she could change her mind. "Let's go."

_**BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB**_

Bonnie held her breath as Elena knocked on the door. They were standing on a second floor landing in one of the older houses in Mystic Falls that had been renovated into apartments in recent years. The light above the doorway had burned out, and the only visibility she had came from the moonlight streaming through one of the windows on the landing.

She heard the shuffling of feet approaching the door, and then it opened. There was a dim light in the room, back lighting the man who opened the door and casting his face in shadows. He was tall, however, and muscularly built. Still, she couldn't place him until he spoke.

"Elena, Miss Bennett," he said, in a deep, somewhat accented, voice that Bonnie placed just as he shifted enough in the dim light for her to recognize his face. "Please, come inside."

_Elijah._

The vampire who'd forced the Salvatores to betray her.

_**BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB**_

**A/N: Reviews are love. Any ideas what Elijah wants from/with Bonnie?**


	5. The Planned and Unplanned

**A/N: Thank you everyone for the reviews! 3x19 really revived my Kol love, though I still have issues that Damon would ever be able to get the jump on him. And I think I'm probably in the minority, but I like Esther, so she's not going to be nearly as evil in this as the show is making her.**

**ElOsoDelNieve, thank you for your lovely review! It's the longest I've ever received, and I hope I continue to do Bonnie and her emotions (and the other characters) justice!**

**Disclaimer: These characters are the creative property of LJ Smith and The CW. I am not profiting in any way from their use. The only thing I own is my plot.**

.

.

.

**CHAPTER FOUR**

Bonnie felt her blood run cold as she stared up into the face of the man who'd so easily considered her life, her mother's life, less valuable than his own. He'd existed for a thousand years, and he'd greedily wanted more? Anger rose up inside her, both for Elijah, and for Elena, for bringing her to see him. She couldn't care less what he wanted.

Before she could open her mouth, another voice called out from inside the room.

"Bonnie, I am very glad you're here."

_Esther?_

Bonnie glanced past the vampire towards where the woman's voice came from and spotted Esther standing near a table covered with lighted candles. The Original Witch was studying a grimoire just to the side of the table. Bonnie looked back up at Elijah, wondering when he had made peace with the mother who had been trying to kill him, as he'd fought against it so hard he'd forced the turning of her own mother into a vampire. She looked over at Elena, who nodded reassuringly, but she didn't feel reassured.

"Please, come inside," Esther said, stepping away from the grimoire and over to the door. Bonnie met the older witch's gaze and nodded, stepping past Elijah into the room. Elena followed, and the vampire closed the door behind them. "Just a moment." She moved back to the table and began burning something in a small bowl. Bonnie recognized it from what Elena had told her after the Mikaelson's ball, what she'd tried unsuccessfully to replicate. It was sage, to keep outsiders from eavesdropping.

Bonnie tried to fight back her impatience. While Esther's presence was reassuring to her, she was uncomfortable being in the same room with a vampire who'd been willing to throw her life away to save his own skin only a few short weeks before. Looking around, she realized that Finn, Esther's most loyal son, was nowhere to be found.

"Where's Finn?" she asked, the words tumbling out before she could stop them. And then other questions followed. "Why are you here with_ Elijah_?" Her tone made it clear how much she mistrusted him. "Why did you bring me here?"

Esther smiled, adding to Bonnie's confusion, but there was something about the woman, her quiet confidence, her calmness, that should have made Bonnie afraid, but didn't. Her presence in the room was the only one Bonnie was actually comfortable with.

"Finn found a reason to live," Esther answered.

Bonnie's confused expression prodded Elijah into speaking.

"A woman he turned nine hundred years ago, before he was daggered," he added, ignoring Bonnie's irritated scowl at his intrusion into the conversation. "Sage."

Bonnie turned her attention back to Esther. "So why are you working with Elijah? He tried to destroy my family because he didn't want to die. I can't imagine something changed in just a few weeks."

Esther looked into her son's eyes. "I'm working with Elijah because he regretted his actions almost as soon as he was safe."

"It's a shame he couldn't have felt that way _before_ my mother was turned," Bonnie said, wishing desperately that she had enough power to actually hurt him. But even now, the migraines she could use against the relatively young Salvatores wasn't nearly strong enough to hurt even Katherine, who was half of the age of the Originals.

"I am so sorry about your mother," Esther said, taking Bonnie's hands in her own. Bonnie nodded.

Elijah opened his mouth to speak, but the younger witch cut him off.

"No," she told him, meeting his calm gaze with her unforgiving one. "I don't want your excuses, or your apologies. An apology won't undo what's been done." Elijah's jaw snapped shut in surprise. She turned back towards his mother. "Why did you have Elena bring me here?"

"Because Klaus still needs to be stopped," Esther said. "When my link to your bloodline was severed, I lost the ability to turn my children human again."

Bonnie waited for more information. Esther clearly had something else planned.

"However," the Original Witch continued, "I can still bind Klaus's werewolf side again."

"Would that stop him from making hybrids?" Bonnie asked.

"From making them and from being one," Esther answered. "It would also make him susceptible to daggering."

Bonnie exchanged a look with Elena.

"And what do you need me for?"

"This spell requires certain things," Esther said. "The blood of the doppelganger is one." She nodded at Elena, who nodded back. Elena was willing to do whatever it took to get Klaus off her back. "And I need the moonstone."

Bonnie's forehead wrinkled. "But the moonstone was destroyed when Klaus broke the curse."

"Not so," Elijah answered, stepping closer to his mother and into Bonnie's line of sight. "That was Greta's last act before Damon snapped her neck, to make it look like the moonstone was destroyed. I picked it up before I went to kill Klaus."

"You mean, before you ran off with him so we couldn't kill him," Bonnie pointed out.

Elijah shrugged, unwilling to debate the point. "I had the moonstone. When Klaus daggered me, he took possession of it."

"It has to be _that_ exact moonstone?" Elena asked. "It can't be just any moonstone?"

"Yes, it must be that moonstone exactly," Esther answered. "And unfortunately, it's in the hands of the one person with no reason to give it up."

"So, Elijah gets the moonstone and-"

"No," Esther cut in, stopping Bonnie mid-sentence. "Elijah's already admitted his regrets to Rebekah. She's most certainly told Klaus. There is no way he'll be able to get in and get close enough to take the moonstone."

"Klaus's paranoia knows no boundaries," Elijah agreed.

"Then how are we supposed to get it?" Elena asked.

"That's where Bonnie comes in," Esther answered.

"What?" Bonnie said, stunned. "There's no way in hell Klaus will let me into the mansion to go looking around for a weapon to use against him."

"Kol," Elena said, figuring it out.

"Yes," Esther said. "I am hearing that my youngest son has a little bit of an obsession with you."

Bonnie's eyes widened at what was being implied. "No. He's a little psychopath. He won't just let me into the mansion to look around, either." Her mind raced, searching for another answer. There was Caroline. Klaus had an obsession of his own with her, but she couldn't throw her best friend, the only one who had supported her since Abby was turned, to the literal wolf.

"There's more to him than just being a little..._psychopath_," Elijah answered, his lips turned slightly upward as if he was fighting not to grin at Bonnie's description.

"I know it will be dangerous," Esther said. "But Finn, Elijah, and I are not welcome, and there's no one else I trust."

"You already have his attention," Elijah said. "All you need to do is string him along long enough for him to think he's won you over, and you'll be in."

"And then all I have to do is search the largest building in Mystic Falls for a small rock," Bonnie finished, already feeling like she was drowning under the weight of everyone's expectations. "He probably hid it somewhere during the reconstruction."

"Wherever he hid it, you'll be able to sense it when you're near it," Esther said. "You've held it before, I believe?"

Bonnie nodded, the enormity of the task settling on her shoulders along with the rest of her responsibilities. She'd have to pretend to play hard to get - well, _that_ part wouldn't take much acting, but then she'd have to fake letting Kol get close to her, fake that she liked his attention. That part wouldn't be so easy.

"If we don't stop Klaus now," Esther said, "then he'll just keep building his hybrid army until there's no way to stop him."

"And he'll keep using Elena to create his hybrids," Elijah added.

Bonnie closed her eyes. She knew it was either her or Caroline, that Klaus would allow no one else free reign in his home, and she doubted that he'd let Caroline out of his sight. Her with Kol, on the other hand, he'd probably beg to send them away from whatever he was doing. And Esther was right, the only way to stop Klaus, now that he couldn't be turned human, was to dagger him, and that would only work on his vampire side. It would be easier to stop him now than to stop him after his army was built. She sighed, knowing that she really didn't have a choice in the matter, but that didn't make her feel any better.

"All right," she said, sucking in a deep, resolute, breath as she opened her eyes. "I'll do it."

_BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB_

"Where have you been?" Caroline asked as soon as Bonnie stepped in the door. The blonde haired vampire was pacing around the living room impatiently.

It was late, Bonnie knew, though not much later than she normally arrived, but she knew Caroline was in overprotective mode thanks to Kol's interest in her. Things with the Mikaelsons had taken longer than she'd expected, but she'd stuck around to have Esther show her how to do the spell using sage. In a town full of creatures with super-hearing, one never knew when having a spell like that one would come in handy.

"I'll tell you after I've checked on Abby," Bonnie answered. Even though Esther had asked her not to tell anyone about their plan, she couldn't keep something this big from her closest friend. Caroline was the only person she truly trusted anymore, and she wouldn't betray her trust by keeping this from her. Caroline would freak if she thought Bonnie was actually showing interest in her Original stalker.

"She's in the kitchen," Caroline said, nodding in the direction.

Bonnie pasted a smile onto her face and went to see her mother.

Bonnie's mother looked more pale than normal. Her skin was tight around her eyes and lips, like she hadn't been eating much, which wasn't surprising since she'd made it clear on more than one occasion that she felt like an abomination. Even though Caroline took her out hunting nightly, it had been a chore for Abby from the start, even when Caroline had shown her how to feed from small animals instead of humans. The smell of human blood was just _so_ much more enticing, so much more tempting.

"Abby, do you want me to call Jamie?"

It didn't surprise her when Abby answered that she wasn't ready to see her adopted son just yet.

Bonnie kneeled down in front of her mother, reached out to touch her face, to get her attention. "You have to eat."

"I'm not hungry," Abby said, looking away.

Bonnie opened her mouth to speak, but she didn't know what else she could say. There was a chasm between them that she didn't know how to cross. Abby was only a vampire because she hadn't wanted to leave Bonnie just when they were getting to know each other, but simply by existing, it was clear that Abby hated herself, what she was, what she'd become. Bonnie took a deep breath, burying the guilt she felt over Abby's self-loathing. She stood and headed back towards the living room, stopping in the doorway. She turned back to face Abby.

"I need you in my life, Abby," she said. "And you'll only be able to be there if you don't starve yourself. You need to accept what you are." _Just as I need to accept it_, she thought. But if she couldn't wrap her head around it, how could she expect Abby to do so?

She headed into the living room. Caroline was waiting for her on the sofa. She walked over to the sofa and pulled a handful of sage out of her jacket pocket and placed it in a small crystal bowl that sat on the coffee table.

_BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB_

Stefan didn't know what kept bringing him out towards this side of town, other than a world of guilty feelings. Even when love, fear, and anger couldn't break through his senses, guilt always found a way to creep inside. That had been the story of his life. He was the one who did something and then regretted it. That had been his m.o. while he was alive, and nothing had changed after his death.

Unlike him, however, Damon had never reveled in his guilt like Stefan did. Which was why Stefan was surprised when, hearing a rustling in a tree across the street from Bonnie's house, he glanced up and spotted his brother sitting in the branches, keeping an eye on the home.

"Damon?" Stefan said, softly, but loud enough for the other Salvatore to hear him. Damon jumped down out of the tree and stalked over to the younger Salvatore.

"What are you doing here?" Damon asked, frustrated at having been spotted.

"Funny," Stefan said. "I was just going to ask you the same thing."

"Alaric said Bonnie might be in danger from the Originals," Damon answered, as if that explanation was going to be enough to satisfy his brother.

"So you're protecting her while she's completely safe inside her home?" Stefan pointed out. That was unlike his brother in many ways. He wasn't one to waste energy protecting someone who was, at least for the moment, safe. "You feel guilty."

"Don't be ridiculous," Damon said, spinning around and taking a few steps away from his sibling before coming to a halt. "You're the one who feels guilt. Not me."

Stefan recognized his brother's defensiveness for what it was. Damon wasn't one to feel guilty over much, and when he had regrets, he either ignored them until they went away, or he fixed them as quickly as he could. But he couldn't fix things with Bonnie, and he couldn't just ignore her, either.

"You worked so hard to gain her trust and respect," Stefan said, realizing just how deeply this betrayal of Bonnie and her unwillingness to forgive and forget was cutting Damon. "You finally had it, and in a single moment, it was lost."

"You don't know what you're talking about," Damon said, his back still towards his brother.

Stefan shrugged, even knowing that his brother wouldn't see it. "If you say so." He turned and looked at the house. From where he stood, he could vaguely see Bonnie in the living room with Caroline, and Abby was sitting in the kitchen, staring quietly out one of the other windows. "Well, I'll leave you to your...vigil."

He walked away, knowing that the only way Damon would be able to alleviate his guilt was by doing something, anything, to keep from thinking so much about it.

_BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB_

Damon watched as Caroline left, and he saw Bonnie return to the kitchen. She sat down at the table across from Abby, and he listened as they awkwardly tried to make conversation.

That was his fault, he knew. It hurt him, watching Bonnie try to make things right with her mother. Yes, the woman had abandoned her, but Bonnie, with her big heart, had tried to forge a bond with the woman anyway, a bond that had been destroyed when Damon had turned Abby into a vampire. Now, he could tell, they were like two strangers, trying to meet somewhere in the middle, but being nowhere near close enough to trust one another.

That was his fault.

Just like the fact that Bonnie now hated his guts was his fault. Even with her big heart, she couldn't forgive him this time. He was good at shifting blame and not accepting responsibility, but this time he had nowhere else to shift the blame. Yes, Elijah had forced his hand, but it had been _ his_ hands that had held Abby while he forced his blood down her throat, _his_ hands that had snapped the woman's neck.

Even from this distance, he could see the fine lines around Bonnie's mouth as she fought her urge to run away from the woman, the faint sheen of tears unshed, her lips curved in a ghost of a smile as she tried to talk of their future together.

How had he never realized just how beautiful the witch was? Why was he only able to see how amazing she was now that he'd driven a huge wedge between them, with an action that it was unlikely she'd ever forgive him for?

She was safe. He knew from experience that once she was inside with Abby for the night, she never left. This wasn't the first time he'd staked out her home since he'd turned Abby, and he'd learned her patterns quickly. Stay away until it was late, until Caroline had brought Abby home from hunting, and then visit with one or both until Caroline left to go home. He knew only two vampires could get inside the house: Abby, and Caroline, and it was unlikely that Bonnie would let another one in. She was as safe as she could be. It was time for him to go home, as well.

He hopped down from his perch in the tree, barely aware of the twenty foot drop.

"Salvatore," a voice said from the darkness behind him.

Damon spun around to find Kol Mikaelson leaning against the tree trunk. He'd been so lost in thoughts of Bonnie that he hadn't heard the Original approach.

"Mikaelson," Damon answered, his muscles tensing at the sight of the other vampire. So Alaric had been right, the Original did have an interest in Bonnie. "Isn't it kind of late for visiting?"

"Oh, I'm not visiting," Kol answered, stepping away from the tree and walking towards Damon. More like, staking his claim.

"So you're out stalking helpless women," Damon baited.

Damon's words had no effect other than to amuse Kol. "Well, for one thing, Bonnie is _far_ from helpless," Kol answered. "Secondly, pot and kettle."

"I'm not stalking her," Damon told him. "I'm protecting her."

"From what?" Kol asked. "From me? I haven't harmed her." He stepped up into Damon's face. "You, on the other hand..."

"Stay away from her," Damon warned, growling. He already didn't like Kol, but to have him rubbing salt in his wounds while he tried to move in on Bonnie? Damon didn't think so.

"Or what?" Kol asked. "You'll hurt me? Maybe snap my neck again?"

Damon growled and sprang forward, reaching for the Original, but his hands closed on empty air. He felt hands on his back and neck, and then there was darkness.

_BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB_

"What was that?"

Bonnie reacted to Abby's words in a heartbeat. "What was what?" She hopped up from her seat. Knowing Mystic Falls, it wasn't likely to be anything good.

"There was a thump," Abby answered. "Front porch."

Bonnie closed her eyes and listened, but she heard nothing. She reached out, tentatively, with her magic, searching for anything that might be dangerous, but she felt nothing. She opened her eyes and headed for the front door. Abby stood and followed her.

She pulled the door open, and she jumped back in surprise. There was someone laying facedown on the porch. The person wasn't moving. She wasn't even sure if he, and it was definitely a _he_, was alive. He looked a lot like Damon Salvatore from the back, though she had no idea why Damon would be laying on her porch. She looked around, trying to see if anyone else was around, but there was no one. She kneeled down next to the body and gave it a gentle nudge, but it was as cold as death.

There was a piece of paper in one of the hands. Bonnie, horrified, reached out and pulled the paper free, opened it.

_Miss Bennett,_

_I found him skulking about your property. My present to you._

_Forever your servant,_

_Kol Mikaelson_

Suddenly, even with his face hidden, Bonnie knew without a doubt it was Damon. The black leather jacket should have been a dead giveaway.

"Him..." she heard Abby whisper. She stood and turned.

"It's okay, Abby," she said, anger and fear warring in her heart. "Go on upstairs."

"Why would someone do that?" Abby asked.

Bonnie glanced back over her shoulder briefly. "Because he wants to make a good impression?" she guessed with a sigh. Klaus had sources everywhere, and apparently Kol had some pretty good sources as well. She shrugged. "I'll take care of this."

Abby nodded, backing out of the living room, as if she was afraid to turn her back on Damon even though he was temporarily dead, and disappeared.

Bonnie sighed again. She wasn't sure how long it would take him to wake up again, but she wasn't going to be able to sleep knowing that Damon was laying there on her porch and that Kol was policing her property. She sat down on the floor, the open door next to her. She was safely inside her house, where neither Damon nor Kol could get to her, but she'd never felt less safe.

It was only about fifteen minutes later that she heard Damon suck in a breath, but those fifteen minutes had felt like a year as she'd sat there, staring at his body, waiting for him to wake up so she could tell him to leave. What the hell had brought him to her property anyway? He knew she didn't want him around, but then, Damon was never one to actually do anything someone told him.

She heard a groan, and she watched as Damon pushed himself up to his hands and knees. She didn't speak as he composed himself and looked around, trying to figure out where he was.

"Bonnie?" he asked, surprised to see her. She was in her dimly lit living room, though the dark room was still brighter than the porch. She looked tired, angry, wary, but at least she wasn't setting his brain on fire. "What happened?"

She waved Kol's note in his face without breaking the plane of the doorway.

"Why were you _skulking_ about my property?"

Damon groaned and rubbed his neck. "Damn it." It took him a minute to collect himself, to remember what he was doing at Bonnie's before Kol had snapped his neck. "I was protecting you."

"Protecting me?" Bonnie was furious. _Protecting_ her? How _dare_ he? "Bang up job." She stood up, unsurprised that Damon was on his feet before she was.

"Do you _like_ having Kol's attention?" Damon asked, barely containing a snarl.

"Don't be stupid," she told him, the anger she felt towards him becoming tiredness. She was tired of being angry with him. It took a lot of effort, more effort than she was willing to expend on him. She just didn't want him around. "Go home, Damon."

"No," Damon told her, stubbornly determined to stay and protect her. "I'm not going anywhere. Kol was here, and he'll be back."

"Fine," Bonnie said, giving up. "Stay and keep watch. I'm going to get some sleep."

She closed the door in Damon's face. Then she headed upstairs to her bedroom, but she knew she wasn't going to get any sleep.

Outside on the porch, Damon settled in on the small porch swing, waiting the several hours until daylight. From his perch, he could hear Bonnie's heartbeat, her breathing, and he knew she was still awake, maintaining her own vigil against his unwelcome presence.

_BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB_

Just as Elena grabbed her book bag, Alaric following her to the front door so they could leave for school, there was a knock at the door. Elena glanced back at Alaric, who shrugged. She didn't know who would be stopping by, and neither did he. If she was a betting woman, she'd have guessed one of the Salvatores, or maybe Bonnie or Caroline. But she would have lost that bet. As she opened the door, she saw a face she didn't expect to see.

"Jeremy?"

She was stunned to see her younger brother standing there. The last time she'd seen him had been after she'd had Damon compel him, and she'd sent him to Denver to live with some distant relations of her adoptive mother's. She didn't know what could have brought him back to Mystic Falls, back into the heart of danger.

Once the surprise wore off, Elena stepped forward and hugged Jeremy, only belatedly realizing that her brother wasn't hugging her back. She stepped back and looked up at his face.

"What's wrong?" she asked, studying the expression on his face. It was stony and sober, and, if she wasn't imagining it, she thought she saw a touch of anger in his eyes. His words made everything clear.

"I remember, Elena," Jeremy said. "I remember _everything_."

_**BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB**_

**A/N: Reviews are love. **


	6. A Walk in the Woods

**A/N: I'm sorry it's been so long since I've updated, my muse disappeared, but seeing the Kat/Nate pic from DragonCon helped get my creative juices flowing again. I hope this chapter was worth the wait!**

**Disclaimer: These characters are the creative property of LJ Smith and The CW. I am not profiting in any way from their use. The only thing I own is my plot.**

.

.

.

**Previously in this story...**

"Jeremy?"

Elena was stunned to see her younger brother standing there. The last time she'd seen him had been after she'd had Damon compel him, and she'd sent him to Denver to live with some distant relations of her adoptive mother's. She didn't know what could have brought him back to Mystic Falls, back into the heart of danger.

Once the surprise wore off, Elena stepped forward and hugged Jeremy, only belatedly realizing that her brother wasn't hugging her back. She stepped back and looked up at his face.

"What's wrong?" she asked, studying the expression on his face. It was stony and sober, and, if she wasn't imagining it, she thought she saw a touch of anger in his eyes. His words made everything clear.

"I remember, Elena," Jeremy said. "I remember _everything_."

.

.

.

**CHAPTER FIVE - A Walk in the Woods**

"What do you mean, you remember everything?" Elena asked, stunned by her brother's outburst. That wasn't possible. People didn't just suddenly remember things after they were compelled. Unless...her heart skipped a beat. Unless the vampire who compelled them was dead. She remembered how Elijah had compelled Katherine to stay inside the tomb after his witch had lifted the spell that imprisoned Stefan inside. Katherine had been able to escape when Elijah had died, even though his death hadn't been permanent. She exchanged a quick look with Alaric. She hoped that whatever had happened to Damon wasn't permanent, either.

Jeremy's lips pursed, increasing his scowl. "You had Damon compel me again. Send me to Denver _for my own good_."

"It _was_ for your own good, Jeremy," Alaric said, stepping forward, hoping to defuse the situation.

"Stay out of it, Alaric," Jeremy said, turning his angry gaze on his lone father figure. He felt betrayed by both Elena and Alaric, because they'd made the choice for him, against his will. "You were there too. You thought it was a good idea to take away my free will." It had been Elena, Alaric, and Damon. He trusted, or at least, he _ had_ trusted, two of them. "And everyone just went along with it."

"Not everyone," Elena said, thinking about what Bonnie had said to her after learning she'd had Damon compel her brother. _You can't control what everyone does all the time...I just feel it's really wrong that you compelled Jeremy to leave town...He should be able to choose how he wants to live his life, you're taking his choices away._

Jeremy lifted an eyebrow. "Who?" When Elena hesitated, he snapped, "No, don't tell me. I know who it was." And thank goodness for Bonnie, the only person who was loyal to him, even when he no longer deserved her loyalty.

"Jer-"

"No," he said, cutting Elena off. "You always talk about how important it is that no one takes away _your_ choices, Elena, but you have no trouble doing that to me. That's twice now."

"Jeremy-"

The younger Gilbert glared at Alaric, who stopped speaking.

"It's not going to happen again. I'm the only one of us who has killed a hybrid," Jeremy pointed out. "I'm not a baby, so stop treating me like one."

Elena sighed and stared up at her brother's face. He was right. She hadn't been any older than he was now when she'd begun dating Stefan and becoming immersed in the world of the supernatural. "I can't guarantee anything, Jer-"

"Elena."

"I can't guarantee anything," she continued. "But I will try."

Jeremy nodded and took a step back, giving them an opening to exit the house. "I'm going to grab a quick shower. I'll meet you guys at the school."

"Why don't you just take the day off?" Alaric suggested. Jeremy must have been tired, since it was a long flight from Denver, and he'd have to go through the process of re-enrolling.

Jeremy shook his head. "Right now, it's better if I keep moving." He nodded and slipped past them into the house.

He wasn't going to tell them he was going to school not because he needed to keep moving, but because of the one person who'd objected to his compulsion. Despite Damon compelling him to meet other girls in Denver, he hadn't been able to stop thinking about Bonnie the whole time he'd been away. He'd hurt her deeply, and despite that, she still came to say goodbye to him before he left. He missed her. He loved her, even if he'd never told her, even if he had feelings for Anna as well. Anna was lost to him, but Bonnie was still alive. And no matter how long it took, he was going to make things right between them again.

_**BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB**_

Kol's first day at Mystic Falls High School was certain to be anything but uneventful. He'd compelled the guidance counsellor into putting him into all of Bonnie's classes, and as he sauntered into her homeroom, he saw her eyes widen in surprise. He smirked, pleased by her reaction. She was sitting in the middle of the room, surrounded by people. The only empty seats were at the front edge of the room, a few rows away from Bonnie. That would never do. He walked up to the guy sitting behind her, and he felt her eyes on him the entire way.

"Move," he said, making eye contact with the teenager. The boy grabbed his things and hopped up, racing over to one of the empty desks as Kol slid into the seat behind Bonnie. He leaned forward until he was only a couple of inches away from her. "Good morning, Beautiful," he said, inhaling her scent. She smelled of lilacs and magnolias. He heard her heart speed up, and he reached forward and caught one of her curls in his fingers, gently tugging it as he ran the strand between the pads of his fingers.

"Stop that," she hissed, keeping her voice low so as not to earn the ire of her homeroom teacher. She jerked her hair out of Kol's fingers. He shrugged, biding his time as he slid back in his seat and stared at her back. Her heartrate didn't diminish, and he knew she was well aware that he was watching her every move, listening to her every breath.

Homeroom only lasted a few more minutes, and the minute the first bell rang, Kol watched as Bonnie almost ran from the room in her haste to get away from him. _That'll change soon enough_, he thought as he stretched and climbed to his feet. For now, the hunt was just beginning.

_**BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB**_

Bonnie's day had been nothing but miserable. She didn't have Caroline or Elena in her first two classes of the day, but somehow, her stalker had found his way into both of those classes. He'd compelled the people sitting behind her to give up their seats, and so he'd been brushing her shoulders or playing in her hair all morning. She'd managed to keep her temper, but only barely. She had no idea how she was going to manage pretending to like him, but as her best friend had reminded her, play it cool or he'll get suspicious. She texted Caroline before history, and her vampire friend was waiting for her outside of her second period class after the bell.

"You'll take an outside corner seat," Caroline instructed as she escorted Bonnie to history. "I'll sit behind you," which would work because Caroline had regularly been ingesting vervain to build up her tolerance and to keep the Originals from being able to compel her, "and Elena will sit beside you. He won't be able to bother you as much from a distance, and you'll have us and Alaric as backup."

Bonnie nodded as the girls walked into their history classroom. Alaric stood at the front of the room, erasing the blackboard as they chose their seats, the ones nearest the door. The rest of the class began straggling in, and Caroline directed Elena to the seat next to Bonnie as soon as she walked in the door. Kol had pretty much been taking his time, usually the last to enter the classes, so Bonnie wasn't worried he'd beat the girls to their seats.

"Bonnie," Elena said as she took the seat to Bonnie's left. With no seats to her right, she was as secure as Caroline could make her. She hadn't gotten a chance to tell her friend about her brother's return just yet, but she wanted to do so before Bonnie saw Jeremy without having been warned first. "Jeremy's-"

"Hello, Beautiful," Kol said, finally strolling into the classroom as a couple of other stragglers followed him in. His eyes met Bonnie's, and she looked away. Most of the class had arrived. There were a couple of open seats across the room, but there was still an open seat behind Elena. It wasn't right behind Bonnie, but it was better than the other options, and it wasn't that far from her.

"Bonnie," he whispered as he walked past, leaning down to address the witch. "Don't you know, you can't escape me?" He headed for the desk behind Elena.

"You planning to sit on my lap?"

Kol looked startled as he stood up, and Bonnie was just as startled. Elena, however, couldn't take her eyes off the person now seated behind her, the person she'd spotted the moment he'd entered the room, while Bonnie and Caroline had been distracted by Kol.

"Salvatore," Kol hissed, clearly not amused by Stefan's unexpected arrival in the class. But it didn't matter. He was just another vampire, and vampires posed no problems for Kol. "Move."

Stefan grinned, unaffected by the compulsion. "No thanks. I like this seat."

"Mr. Mikaelson, take your seat," Alaric said, his loud voice carrying across the classroom.

If looks could kill, Bonnie thought, Stefan would have been dead in that instant. Kol turned his glare first on Caroline and Elena, then on Alaric, before he all but stomped across the room and took one of the empty seats.

As Alaric began speaking, Bonnie tried to focus, but she found herself thinking about Kol and, to her surprise, Stefan. He was the last person she expected to have defending her. He hadn't been to class since he and Damon had turned her mother into a vampire, and she'd only seen him once since, the day he'd tried to apologize to her and she'd sent him away. She didn't think it was a coincidence that he had appeared just in time to keep Kol away from her. But who would have gotten in touch with him? Caroline? Doubtful. Elena? Possibly. Alaric? Another strong contender.

Bonnie glanced across the room at Kol. She wasn't surprised to find his eyes locked on her, and she glanced away, her eyes only vaguely seeing the paper on the desk in front of her. She sucked in a deep breath, wishing she had never agreed to Esther and Elijah's ridiculous plan. How on earth was she ever going to pull this off? She couldn't even stand to be in the same room with him, let alone get close enough to him to convince him to let her into the Mikaelson mansion so she could go looking around for a tool to help curse his beloved brother.

And what had Elena been going to say about Jeremy?

The bell rang, signaling the end of the period. Bonnie glanced up at the clock in surprise. Had the class really gone that quickly? She grabbed her textbook and stood up, and Caroline and Elena were immediately flanking her. Behind them, she caught a glimpse of Stefan standing up. Kol was stuck behind the crowd of students leaving before him. With a relieved sigh, she and her friends slipped out of the room and headed towards the cafeteria.

_**BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB**_

Stefan stepped outside of Alaric's classroom and stopped. He didn't have to wait long. He could sense Kol before the Original was within ten feet of him, and he stepped in front of him.

"You know," Stefan said as Kol stopped walking and met his eyes. The Original was impatient, and he'd been noticeably annoyed by Stefan snaking his chosen seat before he'd been able to reach it. He watched as a muscle jumped in Kol's cheek. "You're expending an awful lot of effort in pursuing a girl who will _never_ be interested in you."

"All the thrill is in the chase, Salvatore," Kol answered. Stefan noticed that he was no longer in any hurry to chase after Bonnie. He was spoiling for a fight, and Stefan was more than willing to oblige. He had more history with the Mikaelsons than any of them, had lost the most because of them, and he wanted them out of his life, out of the lives of the people he cared about. And despite what Bonnie thought, he did care about her, and he was determined to prove it to her.

"You're a thousand year old vampire, Kol," Stefan pointed out. "Don't you have something better to do with your time?"

"I have nothing _but_ time," Kol answered. "I _will_ have her, and there's nothing you can do to stop me."

Kol's words sank into Stefan's skin like barbs. Before he knew what he was doing, he grabbed Kol's shirt and slammed the vampire into the lockers behind him.

"Leave Bonnie alone," Stefan growled. He hadn't been able to protect her or her mother from himself and his brother, but there was no hesitation in him this time. Kol Mikaelson was a narcissistic sociopathic monster, and Stefan wasn't going to let him hurt Bonnie.

As the warning bell rang, Kol simply laughed. With a simple gesture, he knocked Stefan's hands away from him. A few dozen stragglers raced through, and as a couple cut between the vampires, Kol sped off, leaving Stefan standing alone in the hall.

_**BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB**_

Bonnie had just left the crowded cafeteria, watching behind her to make sure Kol hadn't followed from his table in the corner, when she slammed hard into someone.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said quickly, turning to see who it was she'd run into.

"Bonnie," the guy said, and her eyes quickly flew to his face as she recognized the voice. Jeremy Gilbert.

"Jeremy?" she asked, surprised to see him. He was home from Denver? That must have been what Elena had been trying to tell her earlier. She smiled hesitantly, not sure how she felt about his return, and then Jeremy pulled her into a hug. She couldn't speak as her emotions got the best of her. She was happy to see him again, but seeing him again reminded her that it hadn't been that long ago he'd broken her heart. "What are you doing here? Did Elena send for you?"

A frown crossed Jeremy's face as he released Bonnie and took a step back. "No. Damon's compulsion must have been broken."

The mental image of Damon, laying lifeless on Grams' porch, flashed through her mind. "Oh my god."

"Did someone finally kill that jackass?" Jeremy asked, reading Bonnie's expression and realizing she knew what had happened.

Bonnie shook her head. "Or at least, not permanently." Leaving out the details about Kol, she briefly explained about finding Damon's body on the porch. "That must have triggered the return of your memories."

"So, why is someone leaving Damon's body on your porch anyway?" Jeremy asked.

Bonnie looked up into his confused face and remembered that he left Mystic Falls before all the shit with the Salvatores and her mother went down.

"It's a long story," she answered, glancing back toward the lunch room She really didn't want to explain what had happened with vampires sitting around the lunch room. She could see Stefan sitting across the cafeteria, his eyes on Kol, but she knew he was listening to every word she said, and it wouldn't surprise her if Kol was listening as well.

"I have lots of time," Jeremy said, never taking his eyes off her face.

Bonnie turned back to face him. "I'm not sure this is the best place to-"

"Listen, Bonnie," Jeremy said. "I know you're the only person around here who objected to what my sister and Damon did to me." He swallowed, fighting back his anger over being sent away. "You're the only person I can trust. If you need something, anything, I'm here. I'm not going anywhere."

The way Jeremy's eyes and voice softened made Bonnie take a step back. She could sense the change in him the minute that happened, and she knew what he was going to say next. While she still loved him, he'd broken the trust she'd placed in him, and she wasn't sure she could ever go back. "Jer-"

"I missed you, Bon," Jeremy said, stepping closer. He reached out and touched one of the curls next to her cheek. "Even standing here, I miss you." Before she could interrupt him, he raced on. "I had a lot of time in Denver to think, and all I could think about was you. I screwed things up royally, I know that, and you have every right to hate me forever."

Bonnie shook her head. "I don't hate you."

"But I love you, Bonnie, and I'll do anything to fix things between us."

Bonnie was stunned by his confession. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to find some sort of balance. Why now? Why couldn't he have realized that before he kissed Anna's ghost? Before she'd become involved in a plot to seduce Kol? His timing couldn't be worse.

"I...I can't do this right now," she told him, backing away. She wondered if the vampires had heard the exchange. Caroline and Stefan would take it in stride, but Kol? She wasn't sure what he'd do with the information, and beyond that, she wasn't prepared to sort out her feelings for Jeremy just that instant. It was all too much. "I'd better get going, I'm going to be late for class."

Jeremy nodded and stepped back. "I'll see you later." He watched as she half-walked, half-ran, off. He could be patient. He wasn't going anywhere, and he sure as hell wasn't going to give her up without a fight.

_**BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB**_

Bonnie plunked her book bag down on the bleachers as Caroline called the cheerleaders together down on the grass in front of her. She pulled her history book out of her bag, sighing with relief that she was free from her bodyguards temporarily. Not that Caroline wasn't nearby, but she wasn't breathing down her neck like Stefan had been doing.

Technically, he hadn't been that close, but he was still close enough to make her want to cry every time she saw him. He was acting like the old Stefan, the Stefan who'd been her friend, the Stefan she'd trusted, the Stefan she knew would do anything to protect her. But she couldn't trust him now, he was too much of a wild card, and she was glad that, if he was keeping any sort of watch over her, he wasn't doing it from a hundred foot radius.

Not to mention, his interference could really put a damper on the plan. Bonnie wasn't in any hurry to seduce Kol, but she knew it would have to happen eventually if they wanted any chance to rebind Klaus's werewolf side. The trick was to make it believable, and there's no way Kol would believe it if she suddenly fell at his feet. She had to keep her distance, while giving a little bit of ground here and there, and with both Elena and Caroline knowing about the plan, they could both protect her and give her enough space. Stefan, on the other hand, was in the dark about the plan, and she didn't trust him enough anymore to bring him in. That thought saddened her, but she shook it off. She wasn't going to go soft on the Salvatores after what they did to her mother. She couldn't.

She opened the book and turned to the chapter she was supposed to read for class, but her eyes darted over to the baseball field, where a few of the junior and senior boys were playing catch and hitting around. She picked Jeremy out instantly, and a small smile formed on her lips, because she knew baseball was his favorite sport, and it didn't surprise her that he'd gravitate towards the field his first day back.

She thought about what he'd said earlier. He wanted to work things out? She sighed, knowing that now was not the time for that. She knew she'd avoided dealing with things right after the breakup, because she'd been hurt and angry, and she didn't want to make any decisions that could affect her life while she was hurt and angry, but at the same time, she didn't regret the breakup. She just regretted that Jeremy had kissed the ghost of his ex-girlfriend, especially since Bonnie bringing Jeremy back from death was the reason Anna's ghost had been around in the first place.

She sighed again, her eyes darting off Jeremy to the guy who'd just walked onto the ball field. She knew, at that moment, that Kol had heard every word spoken between the two of them earlier.

_**BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB**_

Kol stepped onto the ball field and picked out Jeremy Gilbert right away. If he hadn't looked a little bit like the doppelganger, then Bonnie's eyes watching the boy would have told him.

He did _not_ like this development, not one bit. This boy was trying to win his Bennett witch, and he wasn't going to let that happen. Still, Gilbert wasn't one of the Salvatores, to just break his neck and toss him on Bonnie's porch. She cared about him, even if she wasn't ready to make up, and Kol couldn't just kill him without sending Bonnie running in the wrong direction.

He sighed, disappointed that his favorite option was off the table. Well, he'd just have to use a different way to eliminate his rival.

_**BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB**_

Bonnie watched in horror as Kol walked over to Jeremy. She'd known he'd probably heard their earlier conversation, and Kol wasn't one to let anything get in the way of what he wanted.

Kol said something to Jeremy that made the younger boy laugh, and Bonnie waited, terrified, for Kol to do something to him. But after a few minutes, she realized that Kol wasn't going to just snap his neck in front of so many people, and she breathed a sigh of relief. Until he turned and met her eyes.

_Shit_.

He knew she was watching, and the smirk he gave her told her everything she needed to know. He could do anything he wanted to Jeremy and there wasn't a thing she could do to stop him. He'd won, and he knew it.

Bonnie could feel her heart pounding as all sound died away at the thought. Kol had won. She couldn't resist him without the constant threat to Jeremy's life, and how easy it would be for him to kill the human boy. She couldn't stay and watch anymore. She shoved her book into her backpack and hopped down off the bleachers. She glanced back at Caroline, who was watching her like a hawk. She shook her head, letting her friend know she didn't need her to follow.

_**BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB**_

Jeremy glanced away from his new friend Kol to see if Bonnie was still watching him, but she was just jumping down off the bleachers, and he sighed in disappointment. Still, he knew she'd been watching, and that was a good start. He turned back to Kol.

"You want to hit a few?" he asked. They'd mostly been stretching and talking about ball, but without Bonnie there to distract him, he was ready to get down to business.

Kol shook his head. He, too, had noticed Bonnie's departure, and he wasn't going to just let her disappear this time, especially since she was going without her bodyguards. "Sorry, I have someplace to be." He took off jogging across the field in the direction Bonnie had gone.

Jeremy didn't fail to notice the timing. Was Kol into Bonnie or something?

"Jer!"

Jeremy turned to see Matt approaching, and he gave his friend a smile that the blond didn't return. "Matt, it's good to see you!" It was the first he'd seen of him since he'd arrived home.

"Don't you know who that guy is?" Matt asked, staring off after Kol. Not only was Matt not smiling, he was scowling, his brow furrowed.

"Yeah, some new guy named Kol," Jeremy answered, shrugging. Kol seemed okay, but from the way Matt was acting, it was clear he didn't like him.

"That's Klaus's younger brother, Kol," Matt said. "He's one of the Originals, he broke my hand a few weeks ago just for sport, and he's obsessed with Bonnie."

Jeremy turned back around to look for the vampire, but he was long gone. And, to his horror, so was Bonnie.

_**BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB**_

Darkness was falling quickly as Bonnie headed for the witch house. She could feel him following her, haunting her steps, but whenever she'd turn around to face him, he wouldn't be there. Each step she took, she could feel him closing in on her, and she kept waiting for him to grab her, but nothing happened. Her heart raced along the path quicker than her feet.

"Dammit," Bonnie whispered, realizing she must have missed the turnoff to the witch house after traveling for thirty minutes without coming across the house, or even anything remotely familiar. She spun around, planning to head back down the trail she'd been following, but when she glanced at the ground, she saw no signs of a trail. Panic started closing in on her as she looked around, hoping to find something, _anything_, she could recognize. But there was nothing. She was lost, in the dark, in the middle of the woods, with a homicidal stalker who couldn't be killed following her every move.

"Great job, Bonnie," she said. Just pick a direction. Any direction had to be better than just standing here, waiting for him to catch up, she told herself, even though she knew he could catch up to her whenever he wanted with his vampiric speed. He was just toying with her, trying to scare her, and as much as she hated to admit it, it was working.

She took a step forward and stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes sliding up the body of the person standing before her. She knew without even looking that it was Kol, but she couldn't keep her eyes from meeting his anyway. She was aware that her thundering heartbeat was a dead giveaway, but she wasn't going to let him see the fear on her face. She wouldn't give him that satisfaction.

"I was wondering when you were going to stop playing games," she said, stubbornly refusing to take a step back when he stepped closer to her. She swallowed, her fear making it difficult to breath at such close proximity to the Original vampire. He had her at his mercy. One bite, and it would be all over. She fought off the memory of the last time she'd been bitten by a vampire, when Damon had almost killed her. He wasn't the monster standing in front of her, Kol was, and he was the only one she had the energy to deal with right now.

Kol reached out and brushed a strand of hair from Bonnie's cheek, and she fought off the urge to flinch away from his touch. His fingers were cool against her face.

"You're afraid of me," he said in a soft voice, a gentle sound that Bonnie hadn't yet heard from him. Before she could deny it, his fingers slid to her lips to stop her. "I mean you no harm."

"Then why did you follow me?"

Kol grinned, clearly amused by her question.

"Because all the fun is in the chase," he answered. "If you run, I'll always be right behind you."

That's what she was afraid of. She wasn't sure if she'd feel safer with him behind her, or in front of her, though neither option made her feel safe. She closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath, wondering how she was ever going to let Kol get close enough for her to use him to find the moonstone when all she wanted to do was run away from him. Still, she'd feel better if she wasn't trapped alone with him in the middle of nowhere when she tried. Out here, undoubtedly without any backup, well, that was the worst plan she could think of. It was time to find her way home.

Or to find herself dead at Kol's hands. At this moment, either way seemed to be a better option than seducing him. She took a step around him, glanced up at the sky, and stopped, suddenly remembering she had no idea where she was.

"We're a couple of miles east of Mystic Falls," Kol said from behind her. She spun around, surprised at his awareness of their location.

"How do you know that?" she asked, truly curious. She'd wandered through these woods a dozen times, and she couldn't place anything.

"I grew up here," Kol answered. He stared up at the sky, and he was quiet for a minute. "Whiskey, blood, the stars... Every time I'm undaggered, the world is different, everything has changed. Everything but the stars. They're constant."

Something in his words, in his voice, touched Bonnie in a way she would never have expected. He wasn't threatening her, he wasn't threatening her friends. He wasn't trying to manipulate her. He was sharing something, something personal, something she never would have expected. He was lonely. Lonely, afraid, and lost. Displaced from time, from the people and the world he knew. Bonnie was stunned, because his simple admission was the last thing she ever expected. Maybe there was more to Kol than him just being a homicidal bloodsucking fiend.

That idea scared her more than she cared to admit.

"My father and I used to look at the stars together," she said, surprising herself. She should have just walked away. After all, he'd just told her where they were in location to town. All she had to do was head east to go home, but something in her felt an urge to speak, to try and ease the loneliness he felt. Perhaps it was because she was lonely as well. She didn't dare to let her guard down, because he was a vampire, but maybe there was something human left inside him after all. "We started by finding Orion, and we moved on through dozens of different constellations."

"Used to?" Kol asked, stepping closer. He sat down on the ground and looked back up at the stars. He was quiet for a moment. "Is he...what happened?"

Bonnie could sense that he had wanted to ask if her father was dead. "He's away on business a lot. He doesn't have time for stargazing."

"And he leaves you home alone?"

Bonnie narrowed her eyes. "Don't go getting any ideas."

Kol laughed. "I can't get in unless you invite me."

Bonnie relaxed a bit at the truth in his words. "Yes," she said, answering his question. She didn't know what possessed her, but she sat down on the ground a couple of feet away from Kol. "He spends a lot of time in Manhattan, but sometimes he flies all over."

"Do you miss him?"

The question startled Bonnie. "Of course I do," she answered, as if there couldn't be any other options. She only got to see him a couple of days a week, if that, and for a few weeks over the summer when he'd take vacation and they'd go to see her family. Her father was a busy man, and his job with national security kept him pretty well tied up. But he was a good man, and she loved him very much.

"And your mother?"

Bonnie stared up at the sky, finding the Big Dipper as she searched for the right words. Even though she saw her every day now, Bonnie wasn't sure how she felt about Abby. "I...we...it's complicated."

Kol nodded as he wrapped his arms around his knees. "My mother was so overprotective after my brother Henrik died, she was determined to find a way to keep it from happening to the rest of us. That's why she turned my whole family into immortals," he shared. "And a thousand years later, she tried to kill us all."

"Not kill," Bonnie disagreed. She'd been part of Esther's plan. She hadn't wanted to kill them, she'd simply wanted for them to no longer drink the blood of other beings. "She wanted to turn you all human."

"Isn't that almost the same thing?" Kol asked, finally looking over at Bonnie. She couldn't argue with his logic. "And my father? He hunted us for the last several hundred years before Klaus staked him. He hated us even more than she does."

Bonnie didn't know what to say. There were no words to comfort someone whose own parents created the monster he'd become and then wanted nothing more than to destroy him.

"Kol-"

"I should get you back to town," Kol said, standing up. It was clear that he was done talking about his parents. He walked over to Bonnie and offered her a hand up. "I'm sure Caroline and your mother are getting impatient, and probably more than a little bit worried."

Bonnie had forgotten how well Kol knew her schedule. She debated briefly on taking his hand, but before she could second guess her decision, she put her hand in his, and he gently pulled her to her feet.

"Hold on tight," he advised, slipping an arm behind her knees and lifting her up into his arms. Startled, almost panicking, Bonnie's arms wrapped around his neck to help her keep her balance.

"What are you-?"

And Kol took off at full vampiric speed.

What was only a minute felt like a lifetime to Bonnie as everything became a blur, and she tucked her head against Kol's shoulder as he ran. Her body, her soul, everything felt as if it had been left behind in the forest and was struggling to catch up to the speeding bodies. When Kol came to a stop on her Grams' porch, it took her another minute to realize they'd stopped moving.

"You're home," Kol whispered, releasing her legs and gently setting her feet on the porch. Bonnie let go of his neck, but her balance had been left behind in the rush, and she stumbled forward, catching herself awkwardly against Kol's chest.

She stepped away, embarrassment darkening her cheeks. How long had it been since anyone had held her that closely, or that intimately? Apparently too long, as she had been almost enjoying the feel of his arms around her, and Kol was the last person whose touch she should be enjoying.

"Thank you," she said, looking up into his eyes. She wasn't certain what she was thanking him for. Maybe for bringing her home safely, or for not killing her out in the woods, or for making sure she made it home before Caroline and Abby became too worried about her, or for opening up a little bit about his life.

Kol smiled down at her. He leaned forward and pressed his lips against her cheek, and Bonnie couldn't believe she wasn't setting him on fire for his audacity. Instead, she was enjoying the feel of the kiss against her skin, of his arms lightly embracing her in a tentative hug, his hands sliding down her arms from her shoulders to her hands.

_What is wrong with you?_

"Good night, Beautiful," Kol said against her ear.

And then he was gone.

Bonnie brushed her fingers against her cheek where he'd kissed her. She could still feel his breath brushing her ear, could feel where his hands had touched her.

She leaned back against the house, her knees weak, her arms trembling. She slid down the siding until she was sitting. He didn't want to kill her. That scared her. But what scared her more was that she was no longer certain she wanted him dead, either.

_**BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB**_

**A/N: Reviews are love. **


	7. Chapter 6 - A Hole in the Armor

**Disclaimer: These characters are the creative property of LJ Smith and The CW. I am not profiting in any way from their use. The only thing I own is my plot.**

.

.

.

Chapter 6 - A Hole in the Armor

The last fourteen days had dragged by achingly slowly for Bonnie. She'd been on pins and needles over Kol, who had far from given up his pursuit of her. On the contrary, he had stepped up his game, leaving little gifts for her in her locker, so every morning when she opened it, there'd be a different surprise waiting for her. The first day had been a blood-red rose. After the discovery, she'd spelled the locker shut, but somehow he'd found another way in, because the next day, there'd been a stuffed toy shaped like a sad baby vampire in a little gray diaper. Four days ago had been a box of chocolates, and this morning had been a bouquet of balloons. Bonnie wasn't sure if she should be slightly charmed by or absolutely terrified of his determination to win her over.

Despite his efforts, they hadn't exchanged words since that night in the woods, the night he'd carried her home and left her on the porch with a kiss on her cheek. But his eyes had been speaking to her steadily. Every time she'd seen him in class, or passed him in the hallway, his eyes had caressed her warmly, making her pulse race, _in fear_, she told herself. But he'd made no attempt to address her. It was almost as if he was waiting for her to come to him, and as much as she didn't want to give him the satisfaction, the plan called for it. Unfortunately, her time was getting shorter, as not only had Elijah called the day before to ask for an update, but she and Kol had just been paired up for an English assignment. She'd put the plan off for as long as she could; with both sides starting to put pressure on her, she didn't want to get caught in the middle between a pissed off impatient Original and an amorous one.

Kol had been leaving Jeremy alone, which surprised Bonnie more than anything. She had expected him to use the younger Gilbert as leverage to force her to do his bidding, but he had, as yet, to do any such thing. Jeremy, on the other hand, was ready to tear the Original apart piece by agonizing piece. Each new gift left Jeremy seething with jealous rage, even though Bonnie had immediately given them all away (except for the stuffed vampire, because it was too cute to give away), either to Caroline or to some random student in the hallways. She'd also told Jeremy that she wasn't ready to work things out between them, but with Kol hanging around, he wasn't in any hurry to clear out of her space.

Bonnie was just waiting for the fireworks to erupt. Jeremy would get himself killed if he faced off against Kol, and she couldn't let that happen. She had to set the plan in motion, because the sooner she found the moonstone, the sooner she could get Kol, and the rest of the originals, out of her life, and more importantly, out of her friends' lives.

And that was the reason she was waiting outside her English classroom for Kol to leave. She'd been the first person out the door, so she'd be sure not to miss him.

The seconds that passed felt like minutes to Bonnie. Her knees felt like jello at the thought of interacting with Kol again, and she leaned against the wall to give herself a minute to gather her thoughts, to figure out what she was going to say. She needed to be cool, calm, give a little bit, but not much. Just enough to get him to take the bait.

"So," she said the minute he stepped out the door. He stopped and looked down at her, a small grin gracing his lips, and Bonnie almost lost her train of thought as her eyes landed on his mouth. She darted her eyes back up to his, not missing the amused smirk or the way his eyes sparkled at her reaction to him. "We should probably get this paper done and out of the way as soon as possible." Their English teacher, Mr. Jansen, had assigned them to write about Homer's _The Iliad_ and _The Odyssey_. "The library, after school?" she suggested.

Kol, still with that cocky smirk on his face, shook his head. "My brother has a library full of books that would work better for the paper."

"You want me to walk into the lions den?" Bonnie asked, the idea of spending time at the Mikaelson mansion both what she needed for the plan and terrifying at the same time.

Kol stepped closer, lowering his voice as he spoke. "I wouldn't invite you into my home without knowing I can protect you from my siblings."

It was almost as if he could read Bonnie's mind. She nodded, not certain if she was more frightened of the other originals, or of Kol and his intentions towards her.

"Four o'clock?" he asked.

Bonnie nodded. That would give her time to mentally prepare herself for their study date, and to work up the nerve to try and search for the moonstone.

_BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB_

Kol stared out the small window of the front door. It was a few minutes before four, and Bonnie hadn't arrived yet.

"What are you so anxious about?"

Kol jumped. Despite his exceptional hearing, he'd been lost in thoughts about Bonnie, and he hadn't heard his equally speedy and quiet brother approaching.

"I didn't think you'd be home," Kol answered. He figured Klaus would still be out searching for his missing hybrid, Tyler Lockwood, who hadn't been around in a couple of weeks. It amazed him how attached Klaus was to his hybrid family, but maybe it was because they looked up to him in a way the rest of his blood family couldn't, or wouldn't.

"I have some paperwork to settle up," Klaus answered. "And you're avoiding my question."

Kol bristled. He didn't want his brother to know how eager he was to spend time with the Bennett witch. As much as they could use a witch on their side, and as much as Klaus was obsessed with power, Kol just couldn't see Bonnie as a tool for their use. That had been his initial reason for winning her over to their side, but after having spent a little time with her, Kol saw her more for the young woman she was than just the witch the rest of her friends saw her as. Had she not been a witch, he probably would have killed her without a second thought, but there was a strength and a sorrow, a maturity, to her that he simply didn't see in most people of her age, or many others. She was an old soul, and despite their differences in upbringing and views on vampirism, he felt a connection with her that went beyond that of witch/vampire.

But he couldn't tell Klaus that. So he settled for the simplest form of the truth he could.

"Bonnie's coming over to work on an English paper," he said, hoping Klaus wouldn't hear the excitement in his voice.

"Well, well," Klaus said, smirking. "It sounds like you're doing well at winning her away from the Salvatores."

Kol shrugged. "It's just a paper."

Klaus's eyes narrowed. For a moment, Kol thought his brother had seen through his nonchalance, but then Klaus backed off. "I'm guessing the two of you will be using the library then?" Kol nodded. "I will be in the drawing room if you need anything." He nodded and walked away.

Kol turned back to the window, the nerves in his stomach fluttering. The grandfather clock in the hallway chimed the hour. He breathed a sigh of relief as he watched Bonnie pulled into the Mikaelson driveway.

He met her at the door.

"I wasn't sure you'd show," he said, opening the door before she stepped onto the front landing. He refused to admit, even to himself, how much the idea of her blowing off their study date bothered him.

"I need a good grade on this project," she answered, shrugging, her book bag sliding with the shoulder movement.

"Well, then," Kol said, stepping out of Bonnie's way as she walked into the mansion. "Let's get started."

_BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB_

Twenty minutes later, Bonnie had her books scattered around the table in the Mikaelson library. Kol sat in the chair next to hers, and they were debating possible paper topics.

"How about the sirens?"

"They're barely in the story," Kol said. "And besides, Homer had everything about them wrong."

"What do you mean, wrong?" Bonnie asked. "They're mythological creatures. What is there to get wrong?"

Kol shook his head. "Just because you can find them in a mythology book doesn't mean they were never real."

"Real?" Bonnie asked. "They can't be..." She trailed off at the look on Kol's face. "What?"

"They were very much real," he told her, a sad expression on his face. "However, they all died about five hundred years ago."

"And how do you know this?" Bonnie asked. Yes, sure, he was a vampire, and he'd seen a lot of things in his thousand years, but still...sirens had never existed, had they?

"Because I was in love with one," Kol answered.

His words startled Bonnie. Kol? He was capable of love? And he'd loved a siren? She gave him a questioning look.

"Just because I'm a vampire doesn't mean I can't love," he told her, accurately guessing her thoughts.

Bonnie flushed, embarrassed that he could figure out what she was thinking so easily. It wasn't the first time he'd done it, but it always unnerved her. Even her closest friends weren't able to do that.

"You said all the sirens died centuries ago?" she asked, changing the subject.

Kol was quiet for a moment, as if gathering his thoughts. Bonnie gave him her full attention, interested in the story far more than she wanted to let on. Part of her wanted to know about the sirens, but the other part, the larger part, wanted to know about his former love life, though she'd have never admitted that under the most painful torture imaginable.

"As I'm sure you can guess, it didn't end well," Kol finally said. "It happened shortly after we all became vampires. Finn had been a priest, and so mother's spell didn't sit well with him. He decided to become a sailor, to get away from everything and to cut down on opportunities to kill people, and he asked me to come with him. I didn't have any great plans, and sailing sounded like a grand adventure, so I agreed."

Bonnie nodded silent encouragement, but Kol didn't seem to notice. He looked thoroughly absorbed in the events of the past.

"One day we were shipwrecked on an island covered with flowers. There were three beautiful young women who lived in the meadow. They were all enchanting, but Leucosia...Leucosia was special. Everything I ever said made her laugh, and her laughter made me feel like a prince."

Bonnie couldn't miss the air of sadness that seemed to descend over Kol as he spoke. It wasn't the first time she'd seen beneath his walls, but it still surprised her that he was willing to give her a glimpse at his vulnerable side. She doubted there'd been many people who'd seen it, and fewer still those who'd lived to tell about it.

"So, the two of you fell in love and she died?" Bonnie asked, trying to put the pieces together.

Kol met her eyes and shook his head, a rueful smile playing at his lips. "No, nothing so tragic."

Bonnie frowned. What did _that_ mean?

"Apparently, my feelings for Leucosia were very unrequited," Kol answered the silent question. "For the most part, we weren't in any hurry to leave the island, as the three sisters had us all charmed. Leu pretty much laughed in my face when I told her how I felt. And then she tried to kill me."

"She did what?"

Kol laughed at Bonnie's surprise. "She had no idea that I was a vampire. She took me to the meadow, which was littered with the bones of all the other men she and her sisters had killed, over centuries. Hundreds of men, maybe thousands. She attacked me, and I killed her, and then I rescued Finn from her sister. Together, we saved a few of the other sailors from the third sister. By then, however, our crew was diminished by half, because the sisters had been killing the men one by one, especially when any of them expressed a wish to leave. We'd all been so enamored that we hadn't noticed when they'd disappeared. Anyway, we hurried to the boat and sailed away. It was a few centuries later that I'd heard the other two sisters had been killed when they'd tried to do away with another crew."

Bonnie didn't really know what to say after his sad story came to an end. The next words that popped out of her mouth surprised her more than they did him.

"So, you never loved again after Leucosia?" Bonnie's eyes widened after the words escaped. "I'm sorry, it's none of my-"

Kol laughed softly, interrupting Bonnie's embarrassment. "I never said that."

Bonnie sighed, relieved that her words hadn't been taken the wrong way. "So you turned into a Casanova, then?" She glanced down at her book, stunned by her boldness, before peeking back up into Kol's eyes.

"No," he answered. "There was one other." His face darkened, but before Bonnie could stop him, he continued. "It was 1830. She was a school teacher. Sweet, shy. A werewolf."

Bonnie's eyes widened. A vampire in love with a werewolf? That reminded her somewhat of Caroline and Tyler, and she suspected if they weren't careful, they could be just as tragic a combination as she was sure Kol and his werewolf had likely been.

"Elinor was her name," Kol continued. "We were to be wed, and on our wedding day we were attacked, and we fought our attackers off. She killed one of them, and that was the first time she'd ever turned. She went wild with bloodlust, and she bit me." He paused, collecting his memories.

Bonnie was horrified for him. She knew the bite of a werewolf could be deadly for a vampire.

"Her bite didn't kill me," Kol answered her silent question. "Being immortal, truly immortal, meant that it wouldn't. But it made me terribly sick for a while. A few decades, actually." Another minute of silence followed, and Bonnie knew he must have been reliving the memory. "El was sorry, but her apologies couldn't make me better. Klaus and Elijah searched all over for a cure, or anything that might help. They found nothing. Klaus was enraged, and he killed El. He kept searching, and then he and Elijah had a falling out. In 1904, after seventy years of searching for something to make me feel better, to cure my madness, he finally gave up and daggered me."

"So how did you get better?"

Kol smirked at her implication that he was no longer mad. "Shortly after I was undaggered this year, Klaus fed me some of his hybrid blood."

Bonnie nodded. Klaus's hybrid blood had cured Damon's werewolf bite, so it wasn't surprising it would help Kol, although he'd been afflicted for far longer than Damon had.

Bonnie's thoughts turned to the two women Kol had loved in a thousand years. A siren and a werewolf. Both creatures of legend. Both with tragic endings. She closed her eyes and sucked in a breath. Was she going to be another one of his tragic love stories, where he was betrayed by his love and she died a violent death?

"Why me?"

"What's that?" Kol asked, startling Bonnie out of her thoughts.

"What?" Bonnie hadn't realized she'd spoken out loud until Kol had reacted to her words. "I-"

"Why you?" Kol asked, leaning forward until he was just a few inches in front of Bonnie. She fought the urge to back away, but his caramel eyes locked on hers, and she was helpless to move.

"I'm just a girl, just...Bonnie," she said, feeling small under his intense gaze.

"You are so much more than that," Kol informed her. "You are powerful, bold, sassy, brave enough to go toe to toe with immortal beings, beautiful."

"Beautiful?" she repeated. It wasn't the first time Kol had told her that, but it was the first time she believed he meant the word.

Kol leaned forward and touched her cheek. "I wish you could see yourself the way I see you."

Bonnie glanced down at Kol's mouth. His lips were so close. She found herself leaning towards him.

_BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB_

Damon Salvatore sat parked across the street from the Mikaelson mansion. He'd followed Bonnie to the mansion, as he'd been following her for the better part of the past two weeks. Her schedule had pretty much stayed the same: home, school, home, the Grille, to see Abby, and back home. He'd seen Jeremy mooning over her, had watched Caroline and Stefan keeping watch over her, had seen Kol stalking her, had seen Elena trying to make nice.

Damon had no regrets about Elena. The doppelganger had been right. Damon did not love her, he'd just been infatuated with her because she looked like Katherine. He_ had _loved Katherine, but she had made it abundantly clear that she didn't love him, that she had never loved him. So he'd banished all thoughts and memories of her to a locked room in his mind.

His feelings for Bonnie, however, just seemed to grow stronger the more he watched her. He simply couldn't get her out of his head. He approved of her sending Jeremy away without his prize, but he was jealous of the younger man because he knew Bonnie still cared about him, despite his betrayal of her, in a way that she would never care about Damon. Jeremy had betrayed her trust, but she had loved him once. When Damon betrayed her trust, he'd not only done it knowing she barely trusted him to begin with, he'd also forced a vampiric change upon her mother. It didn't matter that she'd barely known the woman when it had happened. Abby was still her mother, and that made her important to the young witch.

And now Bonnie was not just apparently socializing with Kol Mikaelson of her own free will, she was actually inside the mansion with him.

Jealous rage burned through him. He'd been sitting outside the mansion for almost an hour, waiting for her to leave, but the longer he sat outside, the less certain he was that she had any intention of leaving. She'd finally joined the enemy, had chosen the Mikaelsons over the Salvatores, and he had no one to blame for that but himself.

His jealousy propelled him to the Mikaelson door, where he stopped just long enough to listen. He could hear Kol telling Bonnie that she was beautiful. Before he knew what he was doing, he smashed in the front door and zoomed into the library, taking in the scene in a split-second.

Bonnie had been about to kiss Kol.

And then Kol, his hands fisted in Damon's shirt, had the younger vampire slammed against the bookshelves. In his hurry, he'd forgotten that fools rushed in where angels feared to tread. He was in enemy territory, and his only ally on the premises hated his guts. Yep, he definitely qualified as a fool. An angry, jealous, fool.

"What the hell are you doing here, Salvatore?"

"Actually, I was about to ask Bonnie the same thing," Damon bit out, glaring at Bonnie. "When did you start sleeping with the enemy?"

Bonnie, stunned by the speed of the vampires, was just wrapping her head around things. She stood up, anger noticably registering on her delicate features.

"I think you need to redefine the word_ enemy_, Damon," Bonnie told him. "Because the last time I checked, Kol hasn't done anything to hurt me or anyone I care about. I can't say the same for you."

"I was just trying to protect Elena," Damon answered, knowing that despite his less than kind treatment of other people in her life, it was Abby's turning that Bonnie was referring to. That was the spark that had truly ignited her hatred of him.

"At the expense of everyone else," Bonnie pointed out. "Everyone has sacrificed something to keep Elena safe. Everyone but you."

"That's not-"

"True?" Bonnie finished. "Fair? Tell me why I should be fair?" She stood up, approaching Damon as she spoke. "I know Elena's life is important to you. It's important to me, too. But what makes her life more valuable than anyone else's life?"

"Bon-"

"Simply because _you_ love her? Well, what is so special about that?"

Damon felt as if someone had staked him. Bonnie had no idea how deeply her words cut Damon, but he knew he deserved every word of it. She found his feelings to be worthless, and maybe she was right. Everyone else he'd ever cared about had pretty much felt the same way.

"Why do _you_ get to decide who lives or dies?" she continued, stepping close enough to touch him. "Who gave you the power to make that choice?"

_Katherine_, Damon thought, but he wisely kept his mouth shut.

"Why should _you_ get to decide that _my_ life, or Abby's life, or anyone's life, is worthless?" Bonnie's eyes flared with restrained power. Damon knew she could probably kill him with her magic if she wanted. He was at her mercy, especially with Kol's hand around his throat. "Or at least, is worth _less_ than Elena's?"

"But it's not worth less than Elena's," Damon said, sounding somewhat like a bullfrog due to the Kol's fingers pressing tightly around his Adam's apple.

"What's that?" Bonnie asked, clearly startled by his words.

Damon swallowed, feeling Kol's fingers loosening slightly so he could answer the witch's question. "Your life is worth so much more than Elena's." Damon watched Bonnie's eyebrows come together in confusion. "Elena was right when she told me that I'm not in love with her."

He hadn't planned on telling Bonnie anything, but the combination of her anger and Kol's protectiveness prodded the words from Damon's lips. He knew they'd get under Bonnie's skin. But they would definitely get under Kol's.

"Because I'm in love with_ you_, Bonnie."

_BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB_

Bonnie stopped dead at Damon's words. She didn't react at all as Kol slammed Damon into the bookshelves again, knocking a couple of books from one of the upper shelves. It wasn't until Kol threw Damon through the library doorway and into the entry that she moved, reaching out and grabbing Kol's shoulder.

Before Damon could advance on Kol, Klaus emerged from the drawing room and stepped in between the two vampires.

"I think it's time for you to leave, Mr. Salvatore," Klaus said, facing Damon with his back to his brother and Bonnie. She knew that Klaus had heard every word that had been exchanged, but it was weird to see him playing the mediator.

"Not without Bonnie," Damon said, ignoring Klaus and Kol, his eyes focused only on Bonnie.

Klaus looked back at the witch, as if waiting for her response to Damon's request. She shook her head, still stunned by Damon's admission but not appeased by it, and Klaus turned back around. "Allow me to walk you to the door."

"Come with me, Bonnie," Damon pleaded.

Bonnie took a step back, farther into the room and away from Damon.

"This way, Mr. Salvatore," Klaus said, almost pushing Damon towards the front door.

Bonnie sighed in relief, the tension leaving her body. She didn't believe a word that came out of Damon's mouth, especially anything about having feelings for her. He'd shown her often enough that he only cared about his own needs and Elena. He just didn't want her siding with the originals, and she knew he would say whatever it took to try and keep her away from them.

Bonnie glanced up at Kol. He was literally shaking with rage, his back towards her, facing the doorway where Klaus had disapeared with Damon. She stepped forward and touched his shoulder, and as she slid her hand down his arm, she could feel the tension draining from him. He leaned back against her, and she sighed, unaware until he was touching her just how much she craved the contact.

Kol slowly turned until he was facing Bonnie and gently stepped into her, pushing her back against the book cases against the wall.

"What kind of spell are you using on me?" he asked, his forehead pressed against hers, his lips inches from her mouth.

"There is no spell," she answered, licking her lips. "I'm not doing anything."

"You're doing something magical to me," Kol said, sliding a hand down Bonnie's side to her hip. "Because if I had a pulse, it would be racing."

And then he smashed his lips into hers.

For once, Bonnie didn't think, she simply reacted, wrapping her arms around Kol and leaning into the kiss. His lips slid down her jaw to her throat, and a sigh escaped her until she realized his mouth was at her throat. She sucked in a deep breath, ready to scream as she felt his teeth brush against her skin, but then his mouth was back on hers, and she relaxed into the kiss. He hadn't bitten her.

She didn't know when things started getting out of hand. He let her back him against the wall, where she barely noticed as another book fell from the bookshelves. He pushed her towards the sofa, his mouth still on hers, his hands sliding under her shirt and caressing her skin. His fingers slid into her bra, his rubbing fingers causing her to gasp with pleasure. She giggled as they literally fell onto the floor, limbs colliding until they rearranged themselves enough to continue.

Bonnie pressed her tongue into Kol's mouth as his hand squeezed her breast. His other hand slid down and unfastened her jeans. He paused for a moment, waiting for her to object, before her impatience caused her to grab his wrist. She pushed his fingers inside her jeans, inside her, and then he stopped making her wait. His lips found her throat as his fingers stroked her sensitive places. Her hands slid towards his jeans button as she cried out. She fumbled with the button, couldn't get it, growled in frustration, and settled for rubbing him through his jeans.

Another stroke sent her gasping.

"What the hell is going on in here?"

Bonnie, startled by Klaus's voice, almost shoved Kol off her in an embarrassed panic. It was only then she smelled it.

Smoke.

She looked over at the table, where half the books there were on fire, at the curtains, at the upholstery on the chairs. What wasn't actively burning was smoldering.

_Ohmigod_, she thought, sitting up, not noticing or caring how askew her clothing was in her panic. Klaus had grabbed a nearby blanket that had somehow escaped her magic and was using it to pat out some of the flames. She sucked in a deep breath, calming herself, and the rest of the flames disappeared. Klaus glowered at her.

Bonnie was horrified. What had she done? She'd lost control. She'd been careless and hadn't noticed, in her reckless abandon, that her magic had almost caused the room, and possibly the mansion, to burn down around her. She glanced at Kol, who looked torn between amusement at her loss of control and wanting to make her lose control again.

And worse? She'd stopped seeing Kol as the enemy. She'd let him-

_Ohmigod_, she thought again, standing up in a hurry, startling both vampires.

"I have to go," she said, racing over to the table and gathering up her things. Some of her books were a bit charred, and her class notes were completely burned. She stuffed them into her bag anyway.

_BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB_

Kol hopped up and moved to stop her, but Klaus cut him off.

"Don't leave, Bonnie," Kol said, trying unsuccessfully to get around Klaus. He glared up at his older brother, who refused to let him touch the girl again.

"I'll see you in class," she said, bolting towards the door and out of the building.

Kol shoved Klaus away from him.

Klaus snickered. "The next time you want to recruit the young witch to our side," he said, patting out the last of the smoldering books, "try doing so outside. Preferably by a lake or something."

_**BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB**_

**A/N: Sorry for my lack of prowess with the slight smut, it's the first time I've written any.**

**I will be following up on Damon's admission in a future chapter.**

**It looks like I only have a few more chapters and an epilogue left. But with NaNo coming up, I probably won't be updating this again until sometime after the end of November (though NaNo will be spent writing a Klonnie story I've had in my head for months, so at least you'll be getting more Bonnie).**

**Anyway, thanks for reading! Reviews are love. **


	8. Flames

**Disclaimer: These characters are the creative property of LJ Smith and The CW. I am not profiting in any way from their use. The only thing I own is my plot.**

**Happy Holidays everyone!**

.

.

.

.

Chapter 7 - Flames

Bonnie pounded on the door. She didn't want to face the people inside the room, but she knew she had to tell them what she was feeling. She couldn't go on with this mission. Physical threats aside, she was starting to worry about the threats to her emotions and mentality.

Elijah opened the door. "Why, Miss Bennett, we were not expecting you. Tell me, how are things coming along with Kol?"

Bonnie glared up into his eyes. She wasn't going to explain herself to _him_. "I need to speak with your mother." She looked around the room, but she didn't see the older witch anywhere. She was already nervous about what she needed to tell the originals, but upon realizing that she was alone in the room with Elijah, her heart rate sped up. She hadn't interacted, one-on-one, with him since he'd forced the Salvatore brothers to betray her and her mother; since he had basically put a hit out on the Bennett witches' lives and had then left town without so much as an apology.

"She stepped out to get a few things," Elijah informed her, stepping over to stand in front of her. "But she should be back shortly."

Bonnie stared up at the original vampire, and she had to fight the urge to step back away from him, but she refused to give him the satisfaction of knowing he frightened her. He wasn't nearly as outwardly vicious or as brutal as his brother Klaus, and his temper rarely flared like his brother's, but he was far more dangerous because of his calm demeanor. When he chose to strike, no one could see it coming.

Despite her fear and growing panic, Bonnie couldn't help but wonder why Esther had gone out to get her ingredients instead of sending Elijah. Not that either of the originals was supposed to be in Mystic Falls, but she would have figured Elijah to be more stealthy than his mother.

"I'll just come back when she's here," Bonnie said, desperate to not be alone with Elijah any longer. She was still angry that he had chosen to apologize to Elena, but he hadn't bothered to spare a moment's thought upon the damage he had inflicted upon the Bennetts.

"Whatever you need to say, Miss Bennett, you can say to me," Elijah told her.

Bonnie continued to glare up at him. "I don't think so," she said.

The door behind Bonnie opened, and she turned to see Esther walking into the room. She was ashamed at the feeling of relief that briefly washed over her.

"Bonnie!" Esther said, setting her bag down on the table as Elijah moved to close the door behind his mother. "I wasn't expecting to see you today. How is everything going with Kol?"

"It's not," Bonnie answered. "This is going to be an unmitigated disaster." She could feel her heart rate speeding up again as she debated how to tell pair of originals that she wanted to back out of their plan. She was no longer comfortable trying to use Kol's interest in her against him, not that she had ever been overly comfortable with the idea from the outset. But now that she had allowed her hormones to overcome her good sense, and she realized that she might actually somewhat like Kol just a little bit, she knew it was time to get out before she completely lost herself. She was already in too deep. It was dangerous to be playing with the vampire's feelings. She was starting to fear what might happen if she actually began to care about Kol.

"What makes you think that?" Esther asked, pulling items out of her bag and setting them on the table.

"Because I'm not a good enough actress," Bonnie said, adrenaline racing through her veins. She hated feeling this way. She hated being ruled by fear. But it was not fear of Kol, even though he was deadly enough to instill plenty of fear, but of her own traitorous emotions. She was afraid that if she spent more time around Kol, things might get just as out of hand as they had in the library, when she'd set the curtains on fire, and she wasn't prepared to deal with that. It was better - easier - to think of Kol as a monster and not as a man.

"Nonsense," Esther said. "I have faith in you. You just need to believe in yourself, Bonnie."

"I know my brother, Miss Bennett," Elijah said, walking over to stand next to her.

Bonnie could feel his eyes scouring her throat, and she sucked in a shallow breath. There was no worse feeling in the world than to have a vampire staring at your jugular.

"And if my eyes do not deceive me," Elijah continued, "I don't believe you'll have any problem twisting him around your little finger."

Bonnie flushed, suddenly realizing why the older vampire had been staring at her throat. Kol must have left some sort of mark when he'd been concentrating his attention on her neck. Having a hickey on her neck when she was trying to convince them that she was not capable of pulling this off was not going to help her argument.

"Clearly, Miss Bennett, you underestimate your talents," Elijah said, a smirk twisting his lips into something unattractive.

"Bonnie," Esther said, "we need you. You are the only person who will be able to get into the mansion to find the moonstone."

Bonnie sighed. She knew that they needed to find some sort of way to contain Klaus, and that their options were limited. She just wished that she wasn't the only option. Why did they need a witch like her, anyway? They were immortal. Why couldn't they handle their business themselves? She closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath, trying desperately to control her panic. After what felt like forever, but was likely only a few seconds, she released the air from her lungs. "All right," she said. "I'll keep trying."

"Do more than try," Elijah instructed. "If we don't succeed with this, there's no telling what kind of damage Klaus will do."

_BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB_

Bonnie stared at her alarm clock.

6:23.

It felt like her clock hadn't moved all night. She'd gone to bed the previous evening with too much on her mind, and each minute had crept along, with sleep not coming at all. From Esther's, she'd gone to meet up with Caroline and Abby, and she had wanted to talk to Caroline about Kol and about what Damon had said to her, but Abby had been especially talkative, and she hadn't been able to find a way to bring up the subjects without cutting her off. She'd been waiting too long for a little bit of bonding time with Abby to pass it up. It hadn't been much, but after Abby had brought up wanting to help Bonnie with her magic, if she wanted the help, Caroline had discreetly made her exit, and Bonnie wasn't yet to the point where she was comfortable discussing guys with the woman who'd birthed her.

6:24.

Kol.

Damon.

Yesterday had been an absolute disaster for her, on all fronts. All she had wanted was a simple, innocent study date, no complications or entanglements. Just get the assignment done, feel around with her magic a little bit to see if she could find the moonstone. Easy. So how had it all fallen apart so quickly?

It had started with Kol, of course.

She'd been stupid enough to let him in, briefly, on the night he'd followed her into the woods. But this time, she'd gone into his home, and she'd underestimated his ability to get to her. She'd felt sympathy for him, she'd started seeing him differently, as a man who had once tried to be better than he was, who had been betrayed by love on the two occasions he'd succumbed to the emotion. She understood that, she'd felt that, and not so long ago that she'd forgotten what that felt like, to have your trust broken by the person who should have protected that trust the most. The first time had stung him, but it was long enough ago that the pain had faded. But the second time had broken him, both physically and mentally, and he was only just now picking up the pieces.

And she had the power to potentially destroy him for a third time.

She closed her eyes and sighed.

And then there was Damon. What the hell was going on with him? Bursting into the Mikaelson mansion and announcing that he was in love with her? That was ridiculous. He was in love with Elena, and he'd been determined to ruin her life since she'd met him. Even when he was playing nice, it had been for her best friend's benefit and not for her own.

Did she think he felt guilty over turning Abby? Bonnie couldn't say. Did he fear her loyalties turning towards the Mikaelsons? Very likely, although she couldn't see him saying what he had to try and convince her to not ally herself with the original vampires.

So why would he say something like that to her? Most likely, Elena had rejected him and he'd transferred his feelings to her. Damon wouldn't know what to do without someone to obsess over.

Bonnie sighed again as her alarm finally went off. She hit the button. She wasn't ready for the day. She grabbed her cell from the stand next to her clock and typed out a quick text to Caroline, telling her that she was going to skip school and not to worry, she just needed sleep. And then she rolled over and pulled the covers over her shoulders and wished she could get that sleep.

_BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB_

Damon sat on his barstool at the Grille and finished his glass of bourbon. It was his...tenth? Fifteenth? He'd lost track after the first few. It took a lot of alcohol to get him drunk, but he was finally starting to feel the effects.

It wasn't the same, drinking without Alaric there to drink with him, but his friend was at work, so he was on his own. And being on his own led him to brooding. He waved to the bartender for a refill.

What on earth had possessed him to tell Bonnie he was in love with her? He took a swig from his glass as he mentally shook his head. Had he really expected that to go well?

He drained his glass and waved for another refill.

Worse than anything he'd said was the fact that Bonnie had preferred to remain in the company of Klaus and Kol Mikaelson rather than leave with him. Not that he'd given Bonnie any reason to prefer his company to that of the originals. In all actuality, he'd personally done more harm to her than the entire original family had. Still, it was galling that she'd prefer their company to his, that she would look to them for protection from him, even if it was nothing more than he deserved. That she would trust them, even like them.

He had to convince her the originals weren't the friends they were pretending to be. To convince her that he was sincere about what he'd said, that he'd do anything to prove it, that he'd do anything to make amends for the wrongs he'd committed against her.

And that was how he found himself on her doorstep not five minutes later.

_BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB_

It was almost two when Bonnie pulled herself out of bed. At some point, she'd managed to get a few hours of uneasy sleep, but she hadn't awoken refreshed. She was still tired. Deciding that a shower might wake her up, she hopped into the tub and turned on the water. Afterwards, feeling a little better, she decided to take a walk.

Just as she opened the door to leave the house, she stopped dead. Damon Salvatore stood at her door, his hand raised as if he was about to knock. She was tempted to slam the door shut in his face, but for some reason, she didn't. Maybe she was hoping that he'd recant, that he'd take back what he'd said to her the previous day.

"What do you want, Damon?" she asked, getting a whiff of him as the wind changed direction. He smelled as if liquor was pouring out of his pores, which knowing him, it most likely was.

"I'm sorry," he said, breathing on her.

Bonnie cringed. He must have emptied out the wet bar at the Grille. Before she could speak, to ask him what specifically he was sorry for _this_ time, he continued on.

"I'm sorry for snapping your mother's neck," Damon said.

Bonnie wasn't sure if Damon was drunk, but he was definitely buzzed. Despite his clearly alcohol-induced state, she sensed that he was sincere. He really was sorry for turning her mother.

"I worked so hard to gain your trust," he kept going, "and I threw it away in one stupid moment. I didn't think about the consequences at the time. I didn't think about my vow to protect your bloodline. I just did the easiest thing to do to keep Elena alive, and I never realized how much I'd come to regret that."

"It's what you've always done," Bonnie said, aware of Elena's importance to him, even at the expense of everyone around her.

"But it shouldn't have been," Damon answered, anger and despair coloring his words. He reached a hand out towards Bonnie, but it was stopped by the invisible barrier at the threshold. "I spent a lot of time chasing Katherine's ghost, and then wasting my time on Elena, when I should have been protecting _you_."

Bonnie gulped, uncomfortable at his words. Nope, not recanting. "Damon-"

"Look, I know it's not what you want to hear," Damon said, "but I love you, Bonnie. And I know I realized it way too late to convince you I mean it."

So, he really believed he was in love with her. Bonnie swallowed hard. "Damon, I-"

"I know I've fucked up when you seek friendship and comfort in the arms of the originals," Damon continued, cutting her off. "When you prefer their company to mine, when you trust them more than you trust me. I realized far too late that you are the only person in a hundred and seventy years, other than Stefan, to expect more from me than being just a monster. Underneath all the walls I've put up, you see the man I can be, and you make me want to be him."

Bonnie took a step, unaware that she'd passed outside the protection of the house.

"You _can_ be him," Bonnie told him. "But you need to do it for yourself, not for me. Not for Stefan. For you."

Bonnie flinched as Damon reached out and brushed a strand of hair away from her cheek. He leaned forward and pressed his forehead against hers, blue eyes seeking out her green ones as if asking for permission for something he knew he shouldn't ask.

"Bonnie-"

"No," she whispered, closing her eyes and taking a step back. She could hear the sound of a car pulling into the driveway.

There was a pause, and Bonnie heard Damon suck in a breath. "Kol isn't any better than I am," he said. "He kills without a moment's hesitation. He's a vampire, and I'm sure he's racked up a higher body count in a thousand years than I have in my time."

Bonnie opened her eyes, angry with Damon's sudden change of mood. He'd gone from vulnerable to attacking in two seconds, and she hated being attacked. "You know nothing about it," she said, her pulse speeding up at the mention of Kol. Damon didn't know anything about the plan, and she wasn't about to let him in on the details. But it was more than that making her feel defensive. It was because she'd kissed Kol, because she found him attractive even when she knew she shouldn't, and she wasn't ready to admit it yet, especially not to Damon.

From the corner of her eye, she could see Elena and Caroline getting out of Elena's Grand Cherokee.

"I know that he's no good for you, Bonnie," Damon answered. "No matter how horrible you think I am, he's a thousand times worse."

"You need to leave," Bonnie said, feeling her temper starting to flare.

"Fine," Damon said, noticing they were no longer alone. "But don't expect me to just sit quietly by while you fall into that monster's arms."

"Go," she said, motioning for him to step back off the porch. She turned to her approaching friends.

"Are you okay?" Caroline asked, rushing over to her and giving Damon a dirty look. He backed away after giving Bonnie a final, angry look, and he didn't even spare a glance for Elena as he walked off.

Bonnie nodded to Caroline as Elena stopped in front of her.

"What was that all about?" Elena asked, curious. She'd noticed Damon had been acting a little bit different for a few weeks now, since she'd told him off and had stopped hanging out with the Salvatores. He was still dedicated to his bourbon, but he'd respected her decision and words, and that wasn't like him at all.

"He came to confess his feelings for me," Bonnie answered.

"What?" Caroline burst out, unable to contain her surprise.

"Feelings?" Elena asked. "What feelings?"

"Apparently he thinks he's in love with me," Bonnie answered, and all hell broke loose. Caroline and Elena started talking at the same time, telling her just how wrong and horrible that would be. Finally, Caroline ran out of steam, but Elena kept talking, which was a mistake on her part.

"You know those feelings aren't real, right?" she asked, feeling like an expert on the subject. "Only a few weeks ago he was confessing the same thing to me."

While a part of Bonnie agreed with Elena's sentiment, it wasn't so much her words, as her tone, that irritated Bonnie, as if Damon falling for her was the last thing that would ever happen. And it wasn't that Bonnie _wanted_ Damon's affection, but Elena's comments felt like digs anyway. There were so many things she wanted to say to Elena, none of which was nice, but she'd kept it walled up since the Salvatores had turned her mother to save her friend.

Caroline seemed to catch onto Bonnie's train of thought way before the doppelganger did. "Elena..."

"And he wasn't any more sincere then than he is now," Elena continued, undeterred.

"What makes you the expert on Damon?" Bonnie asked, finally annoyed enough to speak. "Because what he felt for you wasn't real, that means what he feels for me isn't real, either?" Once she started talking, the walls came crumbling down, and pent up words just came spilling out. "What did you say to him, anyway, to make him stop loving you?"

"I just-"

Bonnie cut her off. It wasn't just Damon who had caused her anger towards Elena. "You say that you want to keep your life separated from the supernatural, but the moment anything bad happens, you go running straight to the Salvatores, or to Elijah. If they call, you go running."

"Bonnie, that's not-"

"True?" Bonnie cut in. She was done sugarcoating the facts to keep her friend happy. "Fair? Because from where I'm standing, it's pretty accurate. "

Elena was silent.

"Why are any of us involved in the supernatural world?" Bonnie asked. "Because you invited the vampires into our lives." She knew that was almost a double standard, but her otherness was substantially different from vampirism. "Yes, I'm a witch by blood, but I don't make a mess of our lives. I spend most of my time trying to fix the messes your vampires have made of our lives." She paused to take a breath. "You keep putting everyone's lives at risk because you are involved with the Salvatores, but at the same time, you keep backpeddling when it comes to becoming a vampire to be with them. You keep saying you want to be a human and live a human life, but you spend all of your free time with vampires, including one you claim to love. And they put you on such a high pedestal that it doesn't matter who else is hurt or killed, as long as their _precious_ Elena is safe."

"Bonnie..." Elena said, trying unsuccessfully to keep from tearing up at her best friend's harsh, if accurate, words.

"Everyone around you keeps dying to keep you human," Bonnie accused, "and you don't care, because you keep running back to them. And they keep killing everyone around you to protect you, because as a human you aren't able to protect yourself from anything supernatural."

Bonnie was starting to run out of steam, but she wasn't quite done yet. "You want to have a future with a vampire? There's only one way to do that, 'lena."

Now that she'd run out of angry words, she didn't know what to say, especially now that she'd made Elena cry. A part of her wanted to take it all back, to comfort her friend, who had clearly never given the situation any serious thought. But at the same time, she'd meant every word. Elena _was_ a danger to everyone around her, and until she thought her actions through, she would stay a danger to them.

"I'm so sorry, Bonnie," Elena mumbled through her tears.

Bonnie fought the urge to reach out and hug her, though Caroline put a supportive hand on her arm. Elena turned around and ran back to the car. Bonnie fought back unexpected tears as she took a step forward, but Caroline caught her.

"I've got Elena," she told Bonnie. "You just gave her a huge eye-opening dose of reality, and she wasn't ready for it." She gave the witch a gentle smile. "She'll be fine. And now that you've gotten all of that off your chest, maybe you two will be able to move past the awkward, things unspoken, stage?"

Bonnie tore her gaze away from the Jeep, where Elena sat crying, and looked up at Caroline, who was calm and speaking softly. A year ago, she never would have foreseen Caroline acting as mediator for her and Elena; in fact, it had often been the other way around, with her acting as mediator between Elena and Caroline. But that had been back before Bonnie had discovered she had magic, and before Caroline was unwillingly turned into a vampire. A lifetime ago. Things were completely different now.

"Maybe," Bonnie said, guilt swelling up inside her chest. She was angry with Elena, but she hadn't meant to hurt her. She'd thought saying all those things would make her feel better, would lighten the weight that had been crushing her, but instead she felt worse.

"I'd better get her home," Caroline said, offering Bonnie a supportive smile. "See you tonight."

"Yeah," Bonnie said, watching Caroline head to the car and take over the driving duties. Elena didn't glance at Bonnie once as she switched seats. A minute later, the car pulled out of the drive, leaving Bonnie feeling truly alone.

_BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB_

Kol watched as Damon entered the Boarding House. A moment later, he stood at the door. He debated knocking, but he wasn't feeling that polite, and so he just slammed through the door, smashing it off it's hinges.

Before he could reach the living room, he was slammed against the wall, Damon's hand at his throat.

"What the hell are you doing in my home?" Damon asked, snarling at Kol.

Kol squinted in the dim light of the room. Candles, he noticed, briefly glancing past Damon for a look around. Quite a few of them, but no actual lights were lit.

Damon slammed Kol back against the wall when Kol didn't answer.

Kol laughed, though inside all he felt was rage. He knew Damon hated to be disrespected, so he couldn't resist the opportunity to get under his rival's skin.

"Do you think, for one moment...," Kol shoved Damon away from him violently enough to send the other vampire flying across the room into the wall, "...that you can get the upper hand over me? I'm older, I'm stronger, I'm smarter." Kol stepped forward, pausing in front of a mirror and adjusting his shirt. "I'm better looking."

Damon raced towards Kol, but the original spotted him in the mirror and moved before Damon could catch him. Damon slammed full force into the wall, with a little help from Kol's hands.

"Apparently I'm faster, too," Kol prodded as Damon pushed himself up from the floor.

Damon's face twisted in anger. "What do you want?"

"What do I want?" Kol asked, shrugging. "I want to smash your face into a bloody pulp."

Damon smirked as he stood. "This is about Bonnie, isn't it?"

Kol didn't speak, but he felt himself scowling, answering the younger vampire's question without saying a word.

"She's too good for you, you know," Damon said, circling the room, edging around to the wet bar, where he picked up his partially full glass of bourbon. He took a swig, never taking his eyes off Kol.

"I've never harmed her," Kol answered. "You hurt her every time you interact." Damon's eyebrows drew together, and Kol smirked. "She will never choose you, no matter how much you try to convince her I'm no good for her."

Kol couldn't possibly know how much his words cut Damon, as _no one_ had ever chosen him, and the Salvatore buried his hurt in a display of anger. He raced across the room, finally managing to grab Kol. He threw the original into the wall next to the window, knocking over a pair of candles in the impact.

"Stay away from her," Damon growled, slamming into Kol, who shoved him away. They faced off and hit each other, grappling for a better hold. Neither noticed as the curtains began to smolder.

They threw each other around for a couple of minutes, neither gaining an upper hand, as the curtains began to smoke, and then as flames licked up towards the ceiling and across the walls, gaining momentum as Damon slammed into the window, shattering it and catching his back on fire as oxygen gushed into the room. The flames roared.

Damon dropped to the floor, rolling to put the flames on his back out.

The distraction was all Kol needed to gain the advantage. He grabbed the nearest end table and smashed it into Damon's head, and then he was on him, slamming the black-haired vampire's skull against the floor over and over, unaware of the passage of time, until he felt all fight go out of the Salvatore. A glance around him showed the fire now had a strong hold on the room, the ceiling was beginning to disintegrate, the walls were burning, and smoke was starting to gather, so thick he was lucky he didn't need oxygen to breathe.

It was time for Kol to go. He glanced down at Damon, who groaned. That wouldn't do. He reached down and snapped Damon's neck.

And then Kol walked out of the burning Salvatore Boarding House and sped off into the night.

_**BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB**_


End file.
